Quarterly Company Standards

Each person in Operations must meet a set of minimum company standards (MCS). Leadership reviews and revises MCS topics to match BFD operations. We then work these standards into drills. Company officers make sure their crews perform these drills and meet the MCS.

We may modify this plan as we refine our goals. The Deputy Chief of Operation and the Training Officer manage our plan, but it's everyone's responsibility to use the plan to balance training and field operations.

CPR Education

During cardiac arrest, a person's survival depends on CPR. CPR can double or triple their chance of survival. If you need to give CPR, you will probably be trying to save a loved one. Unfortunately, only about 46% of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate help that they need.

Gallatin Heart Rescue formed Hands-Only CPR after a miraculous cardiac arrest save in July 2011. A bystander started CPR very quickly after the patient went into cardiac arrest. The patient walked out of the hospital without any brain damage within a week. 

We encourage our community members to learn CPR, but Bozeman Fire does NOT teach any CPR certification classes at this time.

Contact the American Heart Association online or in-person locally. 

Gallatin County Fire Academy

BFD, Central Valley, and Big Sky Fire hold a biannual Gallatin County Fire Academy. The GVFA is a 10-week fire training required for all new recruits. 

We hold the academy in the spring and fall. It includes classroom education, intensive physical training, and live fire experience.  Training topics include ropes, knots and hoisting tools, forcible entry, vehicle and ground fires, search and rescue. The academy prepares new recruits for their future day-to-day work.

Seasoned firefighters with years of institutional knowledge teach the academy. This helps recruits get to know their fellow firefighters. Instructors test recruits weekly. They make sure recruits can keep themselves and their team safe, make quick decisions, and communicate with the community in in stressful situations.