Berthoud Fire Protection District 2026-2027 Training Needs Assessment
Training Program Overview:
In 2025, the members of the Berthoud Fire Protection District will log an estimated 7700 hours of
training, an average of 240 hours per Operations Division firefighter. This number reflects the commitment of
our people to pursue excellence in our craft. Vince Lombardi is known to have said: “Perfection is not
attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” The purpose of the Berthoud Fire Training
Program is to make each of those 7,700 training hours count towards the execution of our shared mission,
vision, and values- and our pursuit of excellence.
The District’s annual training plan is based on a training
needs assessment created to ensure that this significant
investment in work hours is not haphazard. This training needs
assessment weighs a variety of factors including trends and
changes in call volume and call types, outcomes and take-aways
from major incidents, safety committee reports, stakeholder
feedback, expected future growth, organizational and certifying
body requirements, and best practice standards. After identifying
priorities, training topics are sorted by a risk / frequency analysis, allowing topics with high risk and low
frequency to receive the most attention as we develop and refine our knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).
Topics that fall into this category include structure fires and active shooter hostile event response (ASHER)
where there is a high element of danger and minimal discretionary time to create an incident action plan (IAP)
focused on firefighter and community safety. Topics that are categorized as high risk and high frequency, for
instance roadway incidents or life-
threatening EMS calls, will receive
proportionately less training priority, as the
high frequency lends itself to on-the-job
training (OJT). The same is true for low risk /
low frequency, and low risk / high frequency
respectively.
A large share of the training
completed at Berthoud Fire is to ensure
compliance with standards set by the
Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and
Figure 1. A graphic demonstrating the Risk / Frequency analysis system used to categorize, and then prioritize, training topics.
Control, the Colorado Division of Health and
Environment, the Insurance Services Offices, the National Fire Protection Association, and a long list of others.
These requirements include:
● Certification requirements from NFPA 472, 1001, 1002, 1021, 1041 and others
● State of Colorado and NREMT standards for EMT
● ISO standards to include Firefighter (228 hours), Driver (240 hours), Officer (260 hours), New Recruit (160 hours)
● Specialty certification standards such as car seat technician, fire investigator, fire inspector, public safety diver and peer support personnel.
● Best practice standards and human resource related courses
The training calendar quickly fills up when satisfying non-negotiable requirements and attempting to balance
organizational needs and desires.
Emergency Incident Data Analysis Analyzing incident data from Berthoud Fire’s National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) database is
used to validate the frequency component in the risk / frequency analysis. This data allows a quantitative
expression of the experience that our firefighters get on the job which helps determine how we train. The
transition in record management systems has limited the availability of usable data. Due to this limitation, this
training needs assessment uses some data from the 2024-2025 assessment when more recent data is not
available. In 2025 Berthoud Fire is projected to respond to approximately 2300 alarms. Of those around 70% will
be emergency medical responses and 9% will be fire suppression related. Based on patient care reports (PCRs),
traffic accidents, or MVAs, will account for the highest number of EMS incidents where BFPD firefighters provide
medical care. This data reveals that MVAs (13.8% of all incidents) plus medical incidents for falls (12.6%), sick
persons (10.2%), breathing problems (8.3%) account for the majority of all incident responses. Our highest risk
medical calls are cardiac arrest incidents, which account for 0.673% of all medical calls within our jurisdiction.
Within our jurisdiction the occurrence of cardiac arrest remains below the national average, however our “core
saves” are above national averages. 1
Alarms by Type
Uncategorized 3% Good Intent 2%
False Alarm 8% Service Call 5% Hazardous Condidtion 4%
Alert Type 300 - Rescue/EMS 100 - Fire 700 - False Alarm 500 - Service 400 - Hazardous (No Fire) 000 - Uncategorized 600 - Good Intent Call
Fires 9%
Rescue / EMS 70%
Figure 2. NFIRS data showing the distribution of alarms by type for 2024-2025 year-to-date.
1 Based on incident count per complaint received by dispatch from 2018-2024, TVEMS, and American Heart Assn data
Fire suppression activities will occur on 2.75% of our incidents annually, and 0.92% of total calls will be
dispatched as structure fires. 2 Following the implementation of “closest-unit” dispatching with Loveland Fire
Rescue Authority in 2016, NFIRS data showed a 35% increase in structure fire alarms from the 3 years previous
and the 3 years following the change. Despite that increase in our responses to structure fires, such
emergencies occurring within BFPD’s jurisdiction have remained statistically consistent, showing no increase
over the 10 years of data examined with a mean of 3.2 occurrences per year. 3 Extrication and rescue from
entanglements following motor vehicle crashes has remained static over a 10-year period as well, averaging 5.4
occurrences per year. It should be noted that these figures are referencing historic data from 2013-2024. 4
Berthoud Fire’s call distribution is on par with other organizations in our region, and the annual incidence of
residential structure fires is very low at 0.0005 fires / household when compared to a national average of 0.003
fires / household. 5 Analysis of this data was factored into the risk / frequency dimensions of the training needs
analysis and provides valuable insight into where our efforts should be focused.
Stakeholder Feedback
Surveys on the efficacy and relevance of the District’s training program were collected from our key
stakeholders in two main groups: our internal operations staff and both internal and external Chief Officers and
Agency Administrators. Given the nature of our relationship with LFRA and TVEMS, chief officers from both
organizations were solicited for feedback.
Chief Officer & Agency Administrator Feedback Our stakeholders provided feedback on our current training efforts using a scale of 1-5 where a score of 1
was “not effective at all,” a score of 3 was “neither effective or ineffective,” and an answer of 5 indicated “very
2 Based on action taken codes 10 Fire Control and Extinguishment, 11 Extinguishment by Fire Personnel, 14 Contain Wildfire, 16 Control Wildfire, and call type 111 Structure fires, from 2018-2023 3 Based on incident type “111” occuring within BFPD’s boundaries 2014-2024 4 Based upon reports for actions taken including “extricate or disentangle” from 2013-2023 5 The USFA reports 353,500 residential fires in 2021; the US Census Bureau reports the US population at 331.9M. Berthoud Fire responded to 3 residential building fires for an in-District population of 19,860 (per NFIRs and US Census data.)
effective” training practices. See the results in table 1 below.
Training Dimension
Mean rating (arithmetic)
Mode (most commonly given value)
Fire Suppression Tactics: Structural Firefighting Fire Apparatus Driver / Operator Fire Suppression Tactics: WUI Firefighting Leadership, Management, Officer Development Specialized Rescue KSAs: dive, ropes, etc. Emergency Medical KSAs
4.50
5 5 4 4 4 3
4.0 4.0
3.83 3.17 3.17 2.67
Hazardous Materials Response 3 Table 1. Stakeholder feedback rating various dimensions of BFPD's training, listed here with the arithmetic mean and mode. These ratings must be weighed against how our stakeholders prioritize the training; some KSAs were deemed
less relevant than others considering the needs of the District given our actual responses. The Chiefs prioritized
our training needs as follows:
1. Leadership, Management, and Officer Development 2. Fire Suppression Tactics: Structural Firefighting
3. Fire Apparatus Driver / Operator KSAs 4. Fire Suppression Tactics: WUI Firefighting 5. Emergency Medical KSAs 6. Hazardous Materials Response 7. Specialized Rescue KSAs: dive, ropes, etc.
Although our Hazardous Materials Response and Specialized Rescue training programs are the lowest rated
among those dimensions surveyed, these results from our leadership suggest that we are largely prioritizing
dimensions consistent with their assessments. Improvements to the quality of the programs being offered,
perhaps most importantly efforts to clearly define the scope of operations within these dimensions, will be a part
of the 2026-2027 focus. Additionally, the quality and frequency of leadership training will be improved to align
with the priorities identified through this feedback.
Strategies for Improvement from TOWS Analysis Chief Officers were asked to consider Berthoud Fire’s training strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats, in a way similar to a SWOT analysis. The responses were adapted to complete an actionable TOWS
assessment. A summary of their comments is as follows:
Threats: • Future succession of officers from lack of FFs interested in promoting • Current Fire Academies produce inconsistent FF performance & KSAs • Lack of meaningful training and preparation for large scale events that require LCSO, OEM, TOB etc… such as ASHER & MCIs • Potential for inconsistent officer performance from variances in training methods & programs between LFRA and BFPD Opportunities: • We have a solid group of aspiring officers with open taskbooks • Excellent quality training available for officers through opportunities with IFSI, FDTN, NFA, TEEX • Good fire academies are available in the region- FRFC and Aims • Healthy training budget and culture that could support outside courses for firefighter level skills • Relationships with LFRA and TVEMS Weaknesses: • Division and confusion on scope of practice and aligned training within specialized operations (ropes, hazmat) • Actual hands-on EMS skills delivery experience. TVEMS’ quick arrival limits firefighter’s ability to put training into practice. • A general disinterest in promoting from the newest generation of firefighters
Strengths: • Very solid base level of knowledge in structural firefighting strategy and tactics
• We have created a department of “thinking firefighters” who are highly adaptable and skilled. • Systems that easily support operations with LFRA as mutually beneficial force multipliers • Dedicated & skilled training staff and a culture that supports a robust training budget
Strategies for Improvement of BFPD’s Training Program The results of the SWOT assessment can be organized to develop prescriptive strategies for the training
needs analysis. Completing a TOWS analysis from the Chief Officer stakeholder feedback provides the following
strategies and objectives for improving Berthoud Fire’s 2026-2027 training program:
1. Leverage the strength and expertise of our firefighters to develop mentoring and supplemental training programs
2. Develop collaborative training programs with LFRA for training specialized rescue KSAs and officer
development
3. Prioritize our training funds to affect the highest priority dimensions
4. Continuously maintain and improve our training in areas that we excel
5. Utilize our firefighter’s strong expertise to develop mentoring and supplemental training opportunities for those in academies
6. Emphasize the importance of developing and testing regional response capabilities for large scale events using our relationships with our response partners.
7. Explore alternative fire academies for future firefighters with emphasis on quality and value.
8. Leverage our cooperative relationships and aspiring new officers to develop and provide training on a clearly defined scope of practice for specialized rescue calls.
9. Explore opportunities for our firefighters to capitalize on our cooperative relationship with TVEMS to play larger roles in EMS calls.
10. Remove communication hurdles impacting specialized rescue operations by clearly defining our scope of practice and providing training within those boundaries.
11. Offer opportunities for entry level professional development in firefighter skills with special attention to EMS skill and leadership development.
12. Continue to pursue opportunities for regional conversations working towards earnest, large scale, multi- disciplinary drills
Figure 3 . Using information from a traditional "SWOT" analysis to create action-oriented strategies and objectives through a "TOWS" assessment.
Safety Committee Reports and Accident Analysis
Berthoud Fire’s safety committee investigations were referenced in the development of this training
needs assessment. Based on the analysis and recommendations from the reports, emphasis should be placed on
safe body mechanics and proper push, pull, and lift techniques to avoid and prevent injuries.
Driver training will continue to be emphasized based on the department’s current needs and growth.
Motor vehicle crashes remain the second leading cause of death of on-duty firefighters. Many of these represent a
disproportionate risk based on the nature of the calls to which the victims were responding. 6 New driver / pumper
academies are being planned for spring and fall with continued education for incumbent engineers and drivers,
skid control classes, and defensive driver training.
On-going education and prevention training regarding occupational cancer risks will remain a focal point
for BFPD training, with all live fire training sessions including a safety message to reinforce proper
decontamination and cleaning procedures.
Regulatory changes for 2026
The Division of Fire Prevention and Control changed the recertification cycle from 3 to 5 years, which
impacts the frequency with which JPRs must be completed. Previous training assessments have allowed for every
JPR to be completed each year; moving forward this longer renewal interval will allow for some training topics to
be scheduled with less frequency, allowing more training time for topics with higher training priority. Changes
within the Insurance Services Office’s requirements are also reflected in this needs analysis. Most notably, we
must document a multi-agency drill each quarter. Instructors will no longer receive training credit for sessions that
they instruct, and fire investigators must document 40 hours of related training each year.
Development of the Training Calendar
Once needs are prioritized, the training calendar is based upon the risk / frequency matrix previously
6 NFPA, NIOSH, and NIH reports of firefighter LODD incidents
cited. This risk frequency analysis is refreshed every other year and was completed again for the 2026-2027
report. From this analysis, topics are assigned annual frequency and distributed on the calendar to consider even
distribution, weather, District events and needs, plus other factors. Feedback from department members is also
considered as part of this process. Requests were received for building familiarization, driver / pumper training,
specialized rescue training for water rescue and rope related incidents, tactical training for multi-family and
commercial buildings to include hose pulls and standpipes, hazardous materials air monitoring, and ASHER
incidents. After the risk frequency analysis, a review of the requirements, safety reports, and training requests, the
2026 training calendar can be set. 2026 Training Plan BFPD’s training lieutenant synthesized all of the analysis included in this process to create a summary of 2026’s training plan. Areas of emphasis include:
● Officer Training, including leadership, tactical, and supervisory KSAs.
● Future Officer Development at the Engineer and Firefighter Levels
● Fire training to include live fire, hose drills, ventilation, and incident management.
● Blue Card trainings at the Command Training Center
● Driver / Operator-Pumper skills
● Special Rescue: Water rescue and rope-based systems
● ASHER / MCI with partners, specifically TVEMS, LFRA and LCSO
● Firefighter Survival and Mayday scenarios with LFRA and TVEMS
● Company Performance Tasks with LFRA
● Peer Support / Firefighter Resilience
● TVEMS will continue to provide in-house bi-monthly CMEs and we will utilize the accredited online CME’s
through Target Solutions.
● Focus on Building Familiarization with the Fire Prevention staff and at the Company Level
● ISO specific training
● Traffic Incident Management course in-house
● Fire Instructor I course in-house
● Hose deployment with a focus on multi-family and commercial structures
● Emotional Intelligence training
● Ongoing effort to train with neighboring agencies at the Company Level
In 2025, Loveland Fire Rescue Authority completed a new class A live fire training building. This new facility
replaced the aging smoke house and will raise the standard for training facilities in the northern Colorado front
range area. The four-story building has multiple burn rooms on 3 floors and multiple configurations to adjust floor
plans which can provide more options for scenarios in commercial and multi-family structures. BFPD will continue
to utilize their LFRA regional training center and benefit from the cooperative relationships we have built with
LFRA training. Live fire training continues to be a priority in 2026 as one of the high risk, low frequency events that
demands our focus.
The 2024-2025 training needs analysis identified officer
development as a priority for training, and efforts started on that front
will continue into 2026-2027. The company officer task book was
completed in 2023, and the command officer task book has been
established. Efforts to identify options for a company officer academy
are continuing, and the District has committed to invest heavily into
the development of our current and future officers through training
and education.
Berthoud Fire values the relationships we have built with our response partners. In 2026, BFPD will
continue to train with TVEMS and LFRA to continue our pursuit of excellence on emergency scenes. The 2024-
2025 training needs analysis identified seeking opportunities to train at a company level with our partners. In
2026, BFPD will seek training opportunities to increase our relationships and interoperability at a company level
and at large scale multi-agency training to include Company Performance Tasks, Live Fire, Firefighter Survival, EMS
skills, Water Supply, Special Operations, and ASHER.
Our society has seen a steady increase in active shooter / hostile event responses (ASHER), and our fire
district is certainly not immune to such events. We have led the efforts with our response partners to coordinate
training, and they are now also prioritizing cooperative efforts. In 2026, joint agency training with TVEMS and
others will see increased ASHER training as we prepare for an event which we all pray will never occur.
In 2025, the Training Divisions from Berthoud Fire and Loveland Fire developed evaluation tools called
Company Performance Tasks. The Training Divisions developed four Engine Company Tasks and four Support
Company Tasks. All Engine and Support Companies from BFPD and LFRA trained together under non-life-
threatening conditions to develop a standard time and deployment model for structure fire response. After the
evaluations, Company Officers were given tools and time to further develop their companies. In 2026, we plan on
meeting twice to complete Company Performance Tasks. 2026 will see different tasks to include motor vehicle
accidents, water rescue, and simple rope systems.
The District will be investing additional resources and time into enhancing our water rescue KSAs in 2026.
Honest evaluations of our performance have helped us to identify opportunities for improving our water rescue
training and responses. Additional training, and more focused and specific training will be offered as a result.
Additionally, specialized rescue scenarios involving ropes and rigging will receive additional training time.
Berthoud Fire is blessed to have highly motivated and capable people with a sincere desire to be
innovative leaders creating a culture of excellence. This level of dedication and professionalism requires the
highest standards for training. In 2026-2027 we will endeavor to raise the bar yet again, learning the skills required
to reach for new capabilities and master the fundamentals of our profession. Although we don’t frequently face
structure fires, the traditional cornerstone of our very existence, we train tirelessly for our community, and for our
brothers and sisters beside us, to be ready to face the flames. We will face new threats and unknown adversaries
with the boldness that comes from confidence in our training. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of
preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
-Colin Powell
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