AUTHOR REVIEW DRAFT. Do not post. FDs Pay a High Price for Opting Out of Command Training #2
FDs Pay a High Price for Opting Out of Command Training
Incident command training & certification can seem like a major hit to the budget, but departments pay dearly when they don’t invest.
By Nik Brunacini
B Shifter Buckslip, June 16, 2026
The goal of emergency response deployment systems is to deliver trained and qualified responders to the scene within five minutes more than 90 percent of the time. This goal aligns with our mission statement, “Prevent Harm, Survive and Be Nice.” Despite being less than 10 seconds long, this mission statement is one of the greatest advertising slogans in occupational history. It explains why firefighters are held in such high esteem: We show up within minutes, determine what’s the matter, take action to resolve, fix or de-escalate the situation, and then we leave. Wham, bam, thank you, Mrs. Smith, for being our customer.
If Firefighter/Paramedic Smith loses his paramedic certification, he would be immediately removed from service. In many fire departments, losing your medical certification is grounds for termination.
No Certification, No Service
Fire department training budgets include discretionary and nondiscretionary spending. Nondiscretionary training includes anything required to maintain mandatory certifications. These certifications apply to EMS, hazmat and technical rescue response, for example. Other mandatory training includes human resources, OSHA and NIMS. Let’s use a firefighter/paramedic as an example. If Firefighter/Paramedic Smith loses his paramedic certification, he would be immediately removed from service. In many fire departments, losing your medical certification is grounds for termination. If a department elects to stop training its members as EMS responders, it would have to stop responding to medical calls. This same truth applies to hazmat and technical rescue technicians. These teams must complete ongoing training to remain certified to perform their work. If a department opts out of this training, it can no longer deliver those services.
Most Barbers Have More Training than the Majority of ICs
One recurring pushback against requiring similar certifications for structural firefighting operations is that all firefighters receive firefighting training at the academy. Most fire departments host a three- to four-month training academy for entry-level firefighters, and structural firefighting accounts for only one part of the curriculum. The truth of the matter is that graduating from the training academy may well mark the end of a firefighter’s task-level training.
There are currently zero hours of training required for a firefighter to assume command of an incident and operate as the incident commander. This makes no sense when considering that in the state of Arizona, an individual wanting to become a barber must complete 1,200 hours of barber training and pass a state hair-cutting test. Indiana requires 1,500 hours. In New Jersey, it’s 900. It becomes nonsensical when comparing the consequences of a bad haircut to those of having untrained officers command structure fires. No one in the history of poorly managed haircuts has ever collected a $31 million judgment, but just last year, a jury took less than two hours to award a firefighter’s widow $31 million based on her husband dying at a horribly managed incident.
In the state of Arizona, an individual wanting to become a barber must complete 1,200 hours of barber training & pass a state licensing test. Indiana requires 1,500 hours. In New Jersey, it’s 900.
If You Think Education Is Expensive, Check Out the Price of Ignorance.
Another pushback to structural firefighting training is that it’s too expensive (read the previous sentence again). Let’s compare it to other training. A fire chief I met at a training conference ran a fire department with 300 firefighter/paramedics. In 2025, he secured the budget to pay for paramedic continuing education. Yearly certification for these 300 firefighter/paramedics was delivered via overtime and cost more than $400,000 in overtime pay. The training program itself costs more than $750,000. This works out to a little over $1,150,000, or about $3,800 per year to keep each of the 300 firefighters trained and certified as paramedics for a large urban area. Every year, all 300 medics complete training to meet their annual CE hours while recertifying every two to four years. This big wheel never stops turning. It seems to me that spending just over a million dollars per year to maintain paramedic-level EMS response across this large community is an excellent use of public funds. Many families in this community pay more than $3,800 annually for automobile insurance.
Hazmat and technical rescue teams have similar training requirements to keep these techs current. These costs are cooked into each department’s regular training budget. Mandated training expenses are so habitual that many chiefs simply lose sight of what their departments are spending; it’s simply the price of doing business.
The Workers Rise to the Bar the Department Sets
Firefighters perform to their level of training. This is why the medical community insists that firefighter/paramedics be certified. Not only do we maintain the level of service through annual training, but quality training—especially for hazard-zone workers—is how we embed the required safety routines that keep workers safe. Structure fires are the greatest risk firefighters face during their shift. We control the incident’s outcome by first controlling ourselves. Officers serving as ICs should be not only trained but also certified for that role. Keeping 300 officers certified as Blue Card ICs costs $37,500 annually—$125 per officer—about 3 percent of the cost of maintaining 300 paramedics.
Nick Brunacini joined the Phoenix Fire Department (PFD) in 1980. He served seven years as a firefighter on different engine companies before being promoted to captain and working nine years on a ladder company. Nick served as a battalion chief for five years before promoting to shift commander in 2001. He then spent the next five years developing and teaching the Blue Card curriculum at the PFD’s Command Training Center. His last assignment with the PFD was South Shift commander. Nick retired from the PFD in 2009 after spending the first 26 years of his fire-department career as a B-shifter and the last three on C Shift. Nick is the author of “B-Shifter—A Firefighter’s Memoir.” He also co-wrote “Command Safety.” Today, he is the publisher of B Shifter and a Blue Card instructor.