Firefighters and EMTs are regularly assaulted during the course of their duties, and appropriate self-defense skills are vital and job-related. This program is available in two formats: a 70-slide PowerPoint program that’s dense with information and a 90-minute video program (broken into 3 parts for easier downloads) which presents the PowerPoint material and additionally presents hands-on instruction in defensive techniques.

The program goes much beyond simple physical techniques.

• It delves into the subject of awareness and how firefighters and EMTs can avoid many of the confrontations that they get into each year. For the first time on a national basis it introduces the “color codes of awareness” that have served the law enforcement community so well for decades.
• It educates the audience on the subject of appropriate use of force, addressing the issue of “what level of force can I legally use, and when?”
• It suggests tactics, taking only a couple seconds, that when added to your routine on each call, greatly reduce the chance of an assault.
• It provides a toolbox of self-defense techniques that are easy to learn and will serve a firefighter or EMT well in most of the confrontations they get into.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

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Public safety professionals are usually encouraged to conduct after-action evaluations after every significant event or call. But quite often this necessary continuous-improvement activity is either forgotten or devolves into a relatively meaningless exercise. This program presents a disarmingly simple continuous-improvement method that is widely used in the business world but so far hasn't been much adopted by the public sector, although it is just as useful there. This tool is at the core of what world-class companies like Toyota and IBM do to get better every year.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

If you get a Concurrent Download Limit Exceeded error message, it's because too many people are trying to download our programs at the same time.  Please try again later.

This program addresses all aspects of preserving evidence at fire, medical and rescue scenes.

• It describes the kinds of evidence that first responders are likely to encounter and informs them about how to preserve it for law enforcement.
• It puts evidence preservation into the context of the job that firefighters, medics and search and rescue personnel go to a scene to perform, which always takes first priority.
• It provides several examples of first responders preserving evidence in cases where their action made a difference to the subsequent investigation.

This program is available in two formats. The 50+ PowerPoint slide presentation covers the material thoroughly, while the 50-minute video program is a verbal presentation of the PowerPoint material.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

If you get a Concurrent Download Limit Exceeded error message, it's because too many people are trying to download our programs at the same time.  Please try again later.

This program addresses all aspects of preserving evidence at fire, medical and rescue scenes.

• It describes the kinds of evidence that first responders are likely to encounter and informs them about how to preserve it for law enforcement.
• It puts evidence preservation into the context of the job that firefighters, medics and search and rescue personnel go to a scene to perform, which always takes first priority.
• It provides several examples of first responders preserving evidence in cases where their action made a difference to the subsequent investigation.

This program is available in two formats. The 50+ PowerPoint slide presentation covers the material thoroughly, while the 50-minute video program is a verbal presentation of the PowerPoint material.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

If you get a Concurrent Download Limit Exceeded error message, it's because too many people are trying to download our programs at the same time.  Please try again later.

This program contains a 100+ slide PowerPoint resource packed with information.

• It contains an overview of explosives and bombs, provides examples of various kinds of each.
• It informs public safety personnel what to look for when on calls so that they might recognize bombs and their precursors.
• It details ways in which agencies can respond to bomb threats and bombing incidents.
• It describes ways to interdict suicide bombers and minimize loss of life.

The entire program is at the practical level for front-line responders, and it does not veer off into interesting but academic areas. The program was reviewed by a Technical Review Committee consisting of experts in homeland security, police special operations, and the fire service from across the nation. The program includes more than a dozen open-source documents full of information on handling all aspects of this kind of event, from communications to hazmat to tactics.

The downloads for this program include two options. The first is a PowerPoint file and the documents associated with it. The second option is a video version of the PowerPoint material, which is segmented into four parts each approximately 30 minutes long.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

If you get a Concurrent Download Limit Exceeded error message, it's because too many people are trying to download our programs at the same time.  Please try again later.

Mass shooting events are becoming more common, and the response to them involves every public safety agency for miles around. This program details the actions that fire and EMS agencies can take to prepare themselves for this all-too-likely event, and the actions they can take when the event occurs.

It covers:

• Multi-agency planning and preparation
• Creating a prevention environment
• Command, command post and crowd control issues for this kind of event
• An overview of the tactics that agencies should be familiar with

This program is available in two formats. The 40+ PowerPoint slide presentation covers the material thoroughly, while the 45-minute video program is a verbal presentation of the PowerPoint material.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

If you get a Concurrent Download Limit Exceeded error message, it's because too many people are trying to download our programs at the same time.  Please try again later.

The VBIED, or "car bomb" (or "truck bomb")is a fact of life in the post-September 11 world, and we will see more of them in the U.S. This 40-slide overview about first responder responses to them is taken with permission from August Vernon's 4-hour course on this subject.

Training Briefs

There's a new "designer" way to commit suicide that poses great danger for all first responders. This document gives you the details.

The terrorist attack on Mumbai provided several learning points of all public safety personnel.

Here's a short summary of what to do and what to look for as you approach and and you respond to calls for explosives and explosions.

Training Tips

New training tips from FSF experts for firefighting and EMS professionals are continuously being added. To view, them, go to the FSF group on Flashover TV.

Recommended Resources

The Coalition written several articles written about the dangers of cyanide, smoke and carbon monoxide to firefighters. These articles are written by medical experts in these fields, and are great educational resources for the entire fire community.

The Guide identifies key functions that are essential for first responders (Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, Special Teams, Military, etc.) during the first 10–30 minutes of a “critical incident”. It addresses recognition, identification and response issues that first responders must deal with prior to the arrival of those with specialized training and equipment. This new book is a great resource for all emergency responders and for coordinating inter-agency response.