Montgomery County Fire & Rescue High School Fire Science Program

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FIRE FIGHTER I

Minimum 102 hour course including cognitive and psychomotor skills training in accordance with the National Fire Protection Administration (NFPA) standard NFPA 1001, the national standard curriculum for firefighting.

Curriculum covers, but is not limited to: Firefighter orientation & safety; fire behavior; building construction; firefighter personal protective equipment; portable fire extinguishers; ropes & knots; rescue; vehicle extrication; forcible entry; ground ladders; ventilation; water supply; fire hose; fire streams; fire control; fire detection; suppression & alarm systems; loss control; protecting evidence for fire cause determination; radio communications; fire prevention; and public fire education.

FIRE FIGHTER II

A 60-hour program covering, but not limited to, the following topics:
Building construction codes & inspections; forces & materials as related to building construction; structural elements; roof structures; fire resistance in floors; building construction classification; fire behavior factors, fire travel predictions; nozzle types & flows; determination of fire flow, hose & ladder testing; municipal water systems; fire flow testing, fire detection & alarm systems; the incident command system (ICS); SOPs for safe structural fire fighting; vehicle collision response policy; high-rise building response; natural gas incidents; response to carbon monoxide detectors, and Metro incident standards.

American Heart Association Healthcare Provider CardioPulmonary Resuscitation. All students will receive AHA-CPR training at the Healthcare Provider level.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS OPERATIONS

A 24-hour training program to equip the emergency responder to remain safe during incidents involving hazardous materials. Subject matter includes the use of protective equipment and use of the DOT Hazardous Materials Handbook. This is an operational course allowing the student to begin mitigation of a hazmat incident, but does not qualitfy the student as a Hazmat technician.

Metro Incidents

Two day program of familiarization with the Metro system, orientation to safety concerns, tunnel and station layout, car construction, gaining access to MetroRail cars, and evacuation procedures.

Fire Museum of Maryland Field Trip

A field trip to Lutherville to see the Fire Museum of Maryland.
A great opportunity to see the progression in firefighting equipment from an 1856 hand powered pumper to modern apparatus. Displays of the progress in protective equipment and fire paraphernalia give the cadet a sense of the long history and traditions of the fire service.

Montgomery County Flashover Simulator

A chance to "feel the heat" in the Montgomery County Flashover Simulator. The opportunity to experience first hand the development of the phenomenon of a flashover under controlled conditions in our flashover simulator. One of the first in the country and the only one in Maryland, the Flashover Simulator offers one of the truly rare opportunities for volunteer personnel to experience first hand this potentially life-saving live fire demonstration.

Field Trip to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Opportunity to tour the areas of NIST devoted to testing protective equipment, observe computer modeling of fire behavior and heat movement through structures. We also tour the large rooms used to measure temperatures in rooms under varrying fire conditions.

Academic Requirements

Unlike other high school and career/technology courses, a student who fails any of the examinations during the first semester will be dropped from class. The purpose of this program is to educate and train these students to provide emergency service to the citizens of Montgomery County.

First Semester

Essentials (5423): 1.0 credit
Essentials Internship (5421): 0.5 credit

Second Semester

Advanced Fire Rescue Technician (5424): 1.0 credit
Advanced Fire Rescue Technician Internship (5422): 0.5 credit