30 Firefighter Drill Ideas You Can Run on Any Shift

Every training officer has been there. It is 0800, the crew is looking at you, and you need a drill for today. You have done hose loads, hydrant hookups, and SCBA confidence three times this month. Your crew is bored, and bored crews do not retain training.

Here are 30 drills that actually work at the company level. Each one takes 20 to 45 minutes, requires only the equipment on your rig, and involves the crew doing things, not watching things.

Engine Company Drills

Drill 1: Blind Hydrant Hookup. Blindfold the driver/operator with a blacked-out SCBA facepiece. They must make a hydrant connection by feel. Wrench the cap, make the connection, charge the supply line. Builds muscle memory for night operations and zero-visibility conditions. Time each attempt.

Drill 2: 200-Foot Stretch Race. Two-person teams race to stretch a 200-foot 1 and 3/4 inch line from the crosslay to a target doorway, charge the line, and flow water on target. Fastest team with no kinks wins.

Drill 3: Friction Loss Pop Quiz. The driver/operator sits at the pump panel. You call out scenarios. I need 150 GPM on the second floor through 200 feet of 1 and 3/4. They calculate and set the pump. No calculators, no cheat sheets.

Drill 4: Forward Lay vs. Reverse Lay. Walk through both evolutions from start to finish. Have the crew physically set up each one. Discuss when you would use each. Most young firefighters have only drilled one method.

Drill 5: Nozzle Technique Circuit. Set up three stations: straight stream on a target at 50 feet, fog pattern for exposure protection, and penciling the ceiling simulated. Rotate through all three.

Drill 6: Tanker Shuttle Operations. Even if your district has hydrants, drill the shuttle. Set up a portable tank, establish a fill site and dump site, and run water. Many departments mutual aid into areas without hydrants.

Drill 7: Standpipe Operations. Pull the standpipe kit, walk through connecting to a standpipe system, and stretch a line from the standpipe outlet. If you have a multi-story building in your district, do it live.

Drill 8: Relay Pumping. Two engines set up a relay from a water source to a simulated fireground. Practice establishing the relay, communicating between pumps, and maintaining adequate pressure.

Drill 9: Two-Line Operation. Stretch two lines simultaneously, attack line and backup line. Advance both to the objective. Practice coordinating the two nozzle teams.

Drill 10: Rural Water Supply. Draft from a static source. Every member operates the pump through the drafting procedure at least once. If you cannot draft, you cannot supply water where there are no hydrants.

Truck Company Drills

Drill 11: Ground Ladder Olympics. Teams of two carry a 24-foot extension ladder from the apparatus to a building, raise it, extend it, climb it, and return it. Time the evolution.

Drill 12: Through-the-Lock Forcible Entry. Set up a practice door with a standard deadbolt. Practice K-tool, A-tool, and through-the-lock techniques.

Drill 13: Roof Ventilation Walk-Through. On the training tower or flat roof: walk through the entire vertical ventilation sequence. Ladder placement, sounding the roof, cutting the hole, pushing the ceiling.

Drill 14: Horizontal Ventilation Decision Tree. Present 5 different fire scenarios. For each one, the crew decides whether to ventilate or not. If yes, where and when. This is a decision-making drill, not a physical skills drill.

Drill 15: VEIS Drill. Each crew member performs a VEIS entry on a training building: ventilate the window, enter the room, close the door to the hallway, search the room, exit.

Drill 16: Saw Operations. Every member starts, operates, and shuts down both the chain saw and rotary saw. Cut different materials. Too many firefighters only run a saw during annual training.

Drill 17: Extrication Tool Familiarization. Deploy all extrication tools on a practice vehicle. Spreaders, cutters, rams, struts. Every member operates every tool.

Drill 18: Elevated Master Stream Setup. Set up the aerial or portable master stream device, supply it, and flow water. Discuss placement considerations and collapse zones.

Drill 19: Salvage Cover Deployment. Two-person teams deploy salvage covers over furniture. Practice shoulder throw, balloon throw, and one-person deployment methods.

Drill 20: RIT Equipment and Procedures. Deploy the RIT equipment cache. Walk through the activation procedure, initial entry, firefighter packaging, and removal. Everyone takes a turn as the downed firefighter and the rescue team.

EMS Drills

Drill 21: 12-Lead Interpretation Rapid Round. Pull 10 different 12-lead strips. Each crew member has 30 seconds to identify the rhythm and any critical findings.

Drill 22: Pediatric Emergency Simulation. Simulate a pediatric respiratory emergency. Practice weight-based dosing with the Broselow tape, airway management, and family communication.

Drill 23: Cardiac Arrest Pit Crew Model. Run a cardiac arrest scenario using the pit crew model. Assign positions: compressor, airway, IV/IO and meds, defibrillation, team leader. Practice seamless role rotation every 2 minutes.

Drill 24: Trauma Assessment Rapid Drill. Each crew member performs a complete trauma assessment on a simulated patient. Time the assessment. Standard should be under 90 seconds for the primary survey.

Drill 25: Medication Math Challenge. Present 10 medication dosing scenarios. Each crew member calculates the dose, the volume to draw, and the drip rate. No apps allowed.

Officer Development Drills

Drill 26: Tabletop Size-Up Exercise. Show a building photo. Each member gives a size-up report as if they arrived first due. Record them on a phone and play them back for group critique.

Drill 27: First-Due Decision Making. Present 5 different dispatch scenarios with varying resources and conditions. What is your strategy? What orders are you giving? What resources are you requesting?

Drill 28: ICS Practice. Set up a tabletop multi-alarm incident. Assign ICS positions. Walk through a 30-minute simulated incident with evolving conditions.

Drill 29: Post-Incident Analysis. Select a real incident your department ran in the last 90 days. Walk through it as a group. What went right? What could improve? No blame, just learning.

Drill 30: After-Action Report Writing. Using the incident from Drill 29, each officer writes a one-page after-action report. Include incident summary, what went well, areas for improvement, and specific action items.

Make It Stick

The best drill in the world does not help if no one remembers it next month. Drill one thing. Do not try to pack three topics into one drill. Make it competitive. Times, scores, and contests drive engagement. Document it. Training records protect you, your crew, and your department.

Need a drill for every day of the year? First Due Co. has 366 daily company drills with step-by-step instructions, equipment lists, discussion questions, and NFPA references at firstdueco.com.