City of Weirton Fire Department Utilizes TargetSolutions’ ISO and Custom-Built Apprenticeship Credentials

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July 24, 2018

Resource: Blog Industry: Fire, Public Safety
Tags: Fire, Operational Readiness, Performance Optimization

Fire Chief Jerry Shumate of the City of Weirton Fire Department (WV) faces the same challenge as other smaller departments: Managing hundreds of mandated training hours for personnel without designated staff to do so.

Since implementing TargetSolutions in 2017, the dynamic online training and records management platform has enabled his department to track and report training in one, centralized online location.

 

“What TargetSolutions has done for us, as a small department, (is allow) us to integrate a formal training program without staff to manage it. We now have the electronic, standardized program that I don’t have to have the staff positions to manage it. It can be managed electronically.”

Jerry Shumate, Fire Chief, City of Weirton Fire Department

About City of Weirton Fire Department

Serving a population of about 19,000 people, the City of Weirton Fire Department (WV) utilizes its combination agency of around 23 career firefighters and three volunteer staff to respond to a variety of call types and engage the community.

Providing services such as dive rescue and recovery, fire prevention and suppression, medical first responder and public education, personnel must be prepared and up-to-date on training for all situations.

Tracking Training for ISO

The City of Weirton FD’s last ISO review was last year – prior to using TargetSolutions. During their audit, they had to search through records that were saved in different locations, activities that were entered inconsistently and reports that were difficult to sort through. Soon after, the City of Weirton FD began utilizing TargetSolutions and implemented the pre-built ISO credential.

With this comprehensive, online training package, personnel’s required training is outlined clearly to easily document all training types that count towards ISO. City of Weirton’s firefighters can complete relevant courses on their own time and enter their own hours for drill-yard exercises.

“It’s better to do company training and individual training with the system,” Shumate said. “We’ve used TargetSolutions when going to training as a company and recording it and putting it into an activity. Then individuals are going back and doing additional training or using it for review purposes.”

Custom-Built Solutions for West Virginia

In addition to consolidating training for ISO reviews, TargetSolutions custom-built a credential package for the City of Weirton FD’s Apprenticeship Program. Compliant to West Virginia state standards, this customized credential condenses categories for the program; making each year of the 3-year program trackable. The credential also simplifies the validation process by the apprentice, company officer and apprenticeship committee.

“The credential is electronic, orderly, sortable…we can look at the apprentice and focus on what has to get accomplished,” Shumate said. “The apprentice adds their own hours and gets it signed off by us.”

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