Up to date training is necessary to keep Maynard’s Firefighters ready to carry out the mission of the organization. Part of our organizational vision states that we will achieve our goals by continuously investing in our people. Our personnel is our single biggest investment, and the investment we make in training our firefighters will pay dividends for decades. Investing in training, and essentially our people will help us achieve a culture of change, trust, empathy, competence and employee satisfaction. Putting a clear focus on developing a comprehensive training approach, we will indeed work toward solving some underlying organizational culture issues. Comprehensive training involves a commitment to broadening the experiences of our firefighters by exposing them to training outside of Maynard and even Massachusetts. Maynard Fire has committed to sending firefighters to training programs at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Because the mission of our industry has evolved over the years, our training focus has changed along with it, yet it is certainly no less important. Currently, our firefighters and officers are performing training on a monthly basis to keep their present skills intact and retain cognitive reflex. Moving forward you will see a greater focus on topics other than just traditional firefighting techniques. Some of these topics will focus on specialty areas such as hazardous materials response, technical rescue(s), emergency medical response, fire prevention and public education just to name a few. The Maynard Fire Department has begun developing a succession plan to allow for a smooth transition for fighters moving up to the rank of Captain, and for Captains moving up to the rank of a Chief Officer. Succession planning requires a focus on leadership development to give candidates for promotion an idea of what issues they will face and arm them with the tools necessary to handle them. Maynard Fire is currently conducting specialized training on a monthly basis to enhance our service delivery in Emergency Medical Response. We will utilize NFPA, OSHA, and ISO Standards as our benchmarks for success in this category. The training coordinator and the chief will meet on an annual basis to set organizational goals for the upcoming year and periodically to ensure these goals are being met and alter the direction of the program as needed.