Duncan J. White, Managing Editor of FSJA discusses “has operational training been sacrificed to meet fire safety targets?”
The modern fire and rescue service has two clear responsibilities: keeping crews ready to respond to incidents at a moment’s notice and reducing risk through prevention work in our communities.
Both are essential. However, with budgets under strain and performance targets driving activity, there’s a growing feeling across the sector that one aspect of the job, operational training, is being quietly overlooked.
The rise of prevention work
There’s no doubt that community safety initiatives save lives. Home fire safety visits, school talks and targeted campaigns have played a significant role in reducing fire deaths and incidents over the past two decades. Traditionally, much of this work was managed by dedicated prevention teams with the expertise and capacity to focus on vulnerable households and high-risk groups.
But with cuts to those specialist roles, the responsibility has increasingly fallen to operational watches. Crews are now delivering large volumes of home visits and community safety events, often as part of meeting ambitious local and national targets.
On the surface, this makes sense. Firefighters carry enormous credibility with the public and can build trust in a way few others can. But it also raises a question: At what cost?
Duncan J. White
The squeeze on training
Operational competence relies on consistent, structured training. Whether it’s breathing apparatus drills, high-rise procedures, RTC techniques or dealing with hazardous materials, these are perishable skills. They require time, repetition, and scenario-based practice to remain competent.
Yet across services, many firefighters report that training hours are being eaten away by prevention activity and the paperwork that comes with it. Instead of a day spent on complex incident drills, time is split between community visits, data input, and quick refreshers. Training becomes fragmented, reactive, and in some cases, tick-box in nature.
The danger here isn’t immediately obvious. Nowadays, fires are less frequent, and most days are incident-free. However, when that once-in-a-career high-rise fire, major RTC, or large industrial incident does come, crews need to be ready. Inadequate training only shows its consequences in those rare but critical moments.
Professional pride and morale
For many operational staff, this shift is more than just a scheduling issue. It affects professional identity. Firefighters join the service to fight fires, save lives and deal with emergencies. While prevention work is understood and valued, when it starts to displace training, it can leave crews feeling under-prepared and undervalued.
Morale takes a hit when firefighters feel their core skills are being compromised to hit targets. A watch that isn’t confident in its operational readiness carries that unease into every shout.
Targets versus outcomes
The challenge isn’t prevention itself, but the way it’s measured. When success is defined by the number of visits completed or leaflets handed out, there’s a strong incentive to prioritise volume over balance. Training is easy to postpone; visits are easy to count.
Some services are beginning to tackle this by looking at outcomes rather than outputs. Quality of engagement, targeting high-risk groups, and ensuring operational training hours are protected are becoming part of performance frameworks. That’s a shift the wider service may need to adopt more widely if balance is to be restored.
Finding a better balance
This isn’t about choosing one over the other. Prevention and response are two sides of the same coin.
Duncan J. White
The most effective model is one where prevention work is properly resourced with specialist staff, while operational crews contribute without it overwhelming their training commitments.
Technology can help. Virtual visits, data-driven targeting, and remote engagement can free up firefighter hours. Equally, smaller but well-trained prevention teams focusing on the highest-risk individuals could take the pressure off operational watches.
Most importantly, services need to protect structured training time as non-negotiable. Prevention targets should not come at the expense of the drills and exercises that keep crews safe and effective.
A leadership call
Ultimately, this is a question of leadership and priorities. Senior officers, policymakers, and managers must ensure that operational readiness is not traded for community safety numbers. Crews need clear direction, ring-fenced training time, and the reassurance that the service values both prevention and preparedness equally.
Because when the call comes, whether it’s a house fire, a tower block blaze, or a mass casualty road traffic collision, the public won’t be asking how many home visits we’ve completed. They’ll be relying on firefighters being the best-trained, most confident version of themselves.
Conclusion
Prevention has been a huge success story for the fire and rescue service, but it must not be allowed to erode the operational foundation that keeps both firefighters and communities safe. Hitting targets should never come at the cost of training.
For those of us in the sector, the challenge is clear: keep prevention strong but defend training time fiercely. Because lives don’t just depend on how well we prevent fires, they depend on how well we respond when they happen.
Duncan J. White
Stay safe!
This article was originally published in the September 2025 issue of Fire & Safety Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.
Industry Comment: Prevention over preparedness
Duncan J. White, Managing Editor of FSJA discusses “has operational training been sacrificed to meet fire safety targets?”
The modern fire and rescue service has two clear responsibilities: keeping crews ready to respond to incidents at a moment’s notice and reducing risk through prevention work in our communities.
Both are essential. However, with budgets under strain and performance targets driving activity, there’s a growing feeling across the sector that one aspect of the job, operational training, is being quietly overlooked.
The rise of prevention work
There’s no doubt that community safety initiatives save lives. Home fire safety visits, school talks and targeted campaigns have played a significant role in reducing fire deaths and incidents over the past two decades. Traditionally, much of this work was managed by dedicated prevention teams with the expertise and capacity to focus on vulnerable households and high-risk groups.
But with cuts to those specialist roles, the responsibility has increasingly fallen to operational watches. Crews are now delivering large volumes of home visits and community safety events, often as part of meeting ambitious local and national targets.
The squeeze on training
Operational competence relies on consistent, structured training. Whether it’s breathing apparatus drills, high-rise procedures, RTC techniques or dealing with hazardous materials, these are perishable skills. They require time, repetition, and scenario-based practice to remain competent.
Yet across services, many firefighters report that training hours are being eaten away by prevention activity and the paperwork that comes with it. Instead of a day spent on complex incident drills, time is split between community visits, data input, and quick refreshers. Training becomes fragmented, reactive, and in some cases, tick-box in nature.
The danger here isn’t immediately obvious. Nowadays, fires are less frequent, and most days are incident-free. However, when that once-in-a-career high-rise fire, major RTC, or large industrial incident does come, crews need to be ready. Inadequate training only shows its consequences in those rare but critical moments.
Professional pride and morale
For many operational staff, this shift is more than just a scheduling issue. It affects professional identity. Firefighters join the service to fight fires, save lives and deal with emergencies. While prevention work is understood and valued, when it starts to displace training, it can leave crews feeling under-prepared and undervalued.
Morale takes a hit when firefighters feel their core skills are being compromised to hit targets. A watch that isn’t confident in its operational readiness carries that unease into every shout.
Targets versus outcomes
The challenge isn’t prevention itself, but the way it’s measured. When success is defined by the number of visits completed or leaflets handed out, there’s a strong incentive to prioritise volume over balance. Training is easy to postpone; visits are easy to count.
Some services are beginning to tackle this by looking at outcomes rather than outputs. Quality of engagement, targeting high-risk groups, and ensuring operational training hours are protected are becoming part of performance frameworks. That’s a shift the wider service may need to adopt more widely if balance is to be restored.
Finding a better balance
The most effective model is one where prevention work is properly resourced with specialist staff, while operational crews contribute without it overwhelming their training commitments.
Technology can help. Virtual visits, data-driven targeting, and remote engagement can free up firefighter hours. Equally, smaller but well-trained prevention teams focusing on the highest-risk individuals could take the pressure off operational watches.
Most importantly, services need to protect structured training time as non-negotiable. Prevention targets should not come at the expense of the drills and exercises that keep crews safe and effective.
A leadership call
Ultimately, this is a question of leadership and priorities. Senior officers, policymakers, and managers must ensure that operational readiness is not traded for community safety numbers. Crews need clear direction, ring-fenced training time, and the reassurance that the service values both prevention and preparedness equally.
Because when the call comes, whether it’s a house fire, a tower block blaze, or a mass casualty road traffic collision, the public won’t be asking how many home visits we’ve completed. They’ll be relying on firefighters being the best-trained, most confident version of themselves.
Conclusion
Prevention has been a huge success story for the fire and rescue service, but it must not be allowed to erode the operational foundation that keeps both firefighters and communities safe. Hitting targets should never come at the cost of training.
Stay safe!
This article was originally published in the September 2025 issue of Fire & Safety Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.
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