As the world leader in international firefighting training, the UK’s Fire Service College can assist organisations throughout the Gulf and beyond, offering specialist training at all levels whether in the UK or abroad. Darren Bance, managing director of the Fire Service College, has spent 10 years working in the Middle East. Here he explains how bespoke programmes from the College can provide the expert training you need, from new recruits to Chief Fire Officers.
The College has been working with civil defence organisations and oil and gas companies throughout the Gulf region for the past 25 years. Based in Moreton-in-Marsh in the UK, the College has a global reach and a wealth of experience working with different organisations from around the world. We are equipped to carry out that training in the UK or overseas, and can provide dedicated training for fire and rescue services, emergency responders or a wide spectrum of commercial and public sector clients.
Modern day emergency services face very different challenges arising from an increase in the number, spread and nature of security and environmental threats. Incorporating lessons learned from recent major incidents, the College can support public and private sector organisations build their resilience to emergencies and unplanned events.
Our expert instructors can deliver training anywhere in the world. In the past quarter of a century, we have worked with most countries across the Middle East, with our typical clients including civil defence organisations and private and public customers in the oil and gas industry.
We offer a complete range of training, from how to respond to road traffic collisions, through to high rise fires, officer training, command and control, and leadership and management.
Our instructors and visiting lecturers are experts in their chosen fields. We are proud of our world-renowned brand and reputation for supporting our customers locally, nationally and internationally. Our first-class training is designed to equip them in their roles to help save lives.
Our portfolio of courses, unique incident ground and the professional expertise of our instructional staff ensure that we deliver the highest standards of realistic and effective emergency response training. From firefighter foundation courses to large scale multi-agency national resilience exercises, we can set up a training experience that is second to none.
Our training is all about core career progression. We can train firefighters from the time they join to up to the time they reach Chief Fire Officer level. A lot of the officers we have trained from the Middle East have come back several times and taken development courses at different levels.
Learners can choose to come to UK for the experience of living and learning broad, as well as for the unique facilities offered by our specialist incident ground. Our 300 acre venue enables us to replicate building fires, urban search and rescue scenarios, train derailments, motorway pile-ups and even ship rescues.
We also design challenging and complex training scenarios that really test the skill and ingenuity of firefighters and emergency responders at all levels. This means that emergency services professionals can experience real live training situations and develop their skills and techniques all within a safe environment. We can even simulate multiple exercises to immerse them in highly realistic situations.
What’s more, we can increase the complexity they face over time so that they learn how to tackle long-term, highly challenging situations. This enables them to gain the resilience and endurance skills they need to be effective in whatever situation they face. Courses can be customised to meet specific requirements or adapted to run over a period of several hours or days to ensure the right outcomes and effective adoption of skills.
Courses offered by the College include tailored training solutions for any international organisation wishing to reach recognised international standards, such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) accreditation. Our international courses provide the opportunity for learners to acquire a broad range of core and enhanced emergency responder skills for both government and commercial sectors, ranging from initial response to strategic management.
For those organisations from across the world who may choose to come to the UK for the unparalleled training that can be offered on site, it is important to note that we are sensitive to a diverse range of cultural needs. We cater for halal diets and offer prayer rooms and interpreters, and even have access to Arabic television stations. Some training can last as long as two years – we appreciate that we need to be able to offer a home away from home and make that stay as comfortable as possible.
For those organisations interested in training at their home sites, we will work closely with you to assess the facilities, and potentially carry out a site visit, to ensure that we will be able to deliver effective training in-country. There is no doubt that the College is the world leader in this field – no other training organisation is able to offer such a broad range of training to this standard around the world, especially relating to specialist training.
We are able to offer a number of specific modules for our international clients. These include the International Firefighter Development programme, which provides a modularised Firefighter Foundation Programme to equip new entrants to fire and rescue services, civil defence or the oil and gas industry, with basic knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to undergo further on-station ‘acquisition and application’ training and development.
Our International Brigade Command course provides an opportunity for senior and aspiring managers to develop the skills and competences to advance into the most senior roles in their organisations.
The International Fire Behaviour Instructor course enables learners to design and deliver theoretical and practical training in flashover and backdraught, competently and safely.
The course employs a blended learning approach to enable trainers to develop their skills to deliver fire behaviour training and assess this training against measurable, objective criteria.
Meanwhile, our Train the Trainer course is designed to equip those aspiring to, or selected for the role of a general trainer within their organisation, with the technical and practical skill sets required to develop a structured approach to planning and delivering a wide variety of training. It is also important, for even the most experienced trainer to refresh their training delivery skills to ensure effective transfer of learning and this course has the primary objective of encouraging self-assessment in order to reinforce the trainer’s generic skills.
The College is working particularly closely with organisations across the Middle East to ensure the full transfer of knowledge to modern fire and rescue services, civil defence and large oil and gas companies. This will help in the expansion of our training in Arab states in the years ahead, as more and more training will be able to be delivered in-house.
Once you have decided to book a course with us, we work closely with you to ensure we fully understand your needs and expectations before we work out the detailed day-to-day running of the course.
There are various ways to get in touch if you are interested in finding out more about training from the Fire Service College for your organisation. You can contact us on +44 1608 812984, email sales@fireservicecollege.ac.uk.
For more information, go to www.fireservicecollege.ac.uk
About the Author
Darren Bance joined Capita as Managing Director of the Fire Service College in July 2016. Prior to joining the College Darren was based in the Middle East for several years, working in the UAE and Qatar.
