Development of Fire Educational Systems by Specific Core Competency Indicators based on the Career Progression Management of Fire Departments
Abstract
Firefighting work is one of the most urgent, dangerous, and high stress types of government work. Due to state policies and financial limitations, the few new firefighting personnel in Taiwan each year have resulted in a substantial shortage in firefighting personnel.
The hierarchical analysis method and structural equation modeling were employed to build Taiwan’s entry-level firefighting personnel competency indicators. These indicators can be incorporated into the oral and written test-oriented state examination given by the Ministry of Examination or adopted by the government authority for Education and training, in order to enhance the effectiveness of screening and to recruit well-qualified personnel that meet the expectation of society.
The present study established a set of core competency indicators covering seven constructs, which in turn contain 46 factors in total. The experts ranked the importance of the seven constructs from high to low as follows: professional firefighting knowledge, firefighting work skills, fire engine and equipment operation, self-management, firefighter physical fitness, firefighting practical experience, and interpersonal skills.
Keywords
Download Options
Introduction
Firefighters are responsible for public fire prevention, firefighting, disaster rescue, building safety maintenance, emergency medical service, and serving the public. They are the guardians of public safety and are firefighting heroes, meaning their interaction with the public is intense and frequent. Due to the limited manpower and frequent extreme weather-induced disasters in Taiwan, the frontline entry-level firefighting personnel are loaded with assorted tasks. Firefighting is a stressful job because of the dangerous and unpredictable nature of the work. As a result, the key objective of this study is to construct firefighting personnel core competency indicators for effective firefighting personnel Education and Training.
In 2015, there were a total of 12,264 firefighting personnel, including 919 new firefighting personnel recruited from the Level 3 state police examination (Level 3 for short) and Level 4 state police examination (Level 4 for short). In 2015, the Central Police University admitted 50 new firefighting police students, while the Taiwan Police Academy (Police Academy for short) admitted 449 firefighting students. According to the above figures, the firefighting organization is relatively a large system in Taiwan’s public sector. Firefighting is a unique public sector because it is highly physically demanding, pressed for time, dangerous, and brings lots of work stress. It is therefore important to discuss the positive and negative types of personality traits and work attitudes, as well as the specific core competencies required for firefighting personnel to perform their job well. Therefore, the Ministry of Examination and the Ministry of Education, when selecting new firefighting personnel, should take the unique core competencies and provide appropriate training for personnel to meet the needs of firefighting agencies and the expectations of the general public.
Based on the above concerns, the present study reviewed both domestic as well as foreign studies related to the competencies of firefighting personnel in drawing up the required competencies.
Conclusion
In general, the work contents of firefighting personnel differs depending on their task arrangement and work nature, but there are also tasks, such as 24-hour on-call and handling of emergencies or accidents, that are shared by all firefighting personnel. As for the source of firefighting personnel, most of them are graduates from the Central Police University or the Police Academy, while others are hired after passing the Level 3 or 4 state police examinations.
In terms of work knowledge, firefighting personnel should be aware of firefighting related laws and regulations as well as firefighting and rescue knowledge. For police officers transferred to the firefighting unit, their work should be focused on the following nine classes: disaster prevention and management, fire disaster prevention planning and implementation, hazardous materials and substance management and planning, disaster rescue planning and implementation, emergency rescue planning and implementation, fire disaster survey planning and implementation, planning and implementation of education and training, public force utilization planning and implementation, and disaster rescue command planning and implementation. The required knowledge comprises of the following six types: laws and regulations, fire disaster, disaster prevention and rescue, social science, firefighting related machines, and emergency rescue. The types of skills required are: water-related lifesaving, fire rescue, emergency rescue, mountain disaster rescue, and fire engine and equipment related skills. Some other necessary competencies are disaster prevention dissemination, stand-by/on-call, fire safety inspection, water source investigation, fire rescue and drills, on-duty, equipment maintenance, emergency rescue, mountain rescue and search, waterrelated lifesaving, providing public service, and disaster prevention and management.
It is especially important for firefighting personnel to acquire knowledge and concepts related to serving the public. For Level 3 and 4 personnel, they can receive the same knowledge and education for work. Nevertheless, Level 3 personnel should also work on developing their leadership knowledge and application skills.
For work skills, it is unavoidable for firefighting personnel to be confronted with challenges and certain risks associated with their work. As a result, all firefighting personnel should meet the physical requirements. As for professional skills such as Taekwondo, techniques for arresting criminals, and combined firefighting skills, they are all important. There are some differences depending on the work content; for example, for fire prevention personnel, the focus should be on water-related lifesaving, fire rescue, emergency rescue, mountain disaster rescue, and fire engine and equipment operation. As for personnel who have passed the Level 3 or 4 state examinations, their work skill requirements are quite similar.
According to the viewpoints of the experts in this study, the core competency indicators of entry-level firefighting personnel at the benchmark level arranged in descending order are: firefighting work skills, fire engine and equipment operation, selfmanagement (capability), firefighting personnel basic physical fitness, and firefighting practical experience. As for the less valued competency by the experts in this study, that was interpersonal interaction (capability). All firefighting personnel require a high mechanical aptitude and spatial-related perceptual capability in order to do the job well.