CLASSROOM WORKShOP

Synopsis

Firefighting Pride

A candid conversation on why we do what we do, and how to build and maintain pride, professionalism and proficiency at the fire station.  Discussion will focus on how we, as fire service professionals can work together on the little details that can in turn make a big difference on how we are perceived to our peers, the public and our municipal councils.  We will get down to the heart of why we offer ourselves as first responders in our communities, and how we can strengthen and encourage pride at our stations to make for an improved overall fire service.  Student discussion and input will be welcomed and shared! 

Bio

Matt Wehrle is a full-time firefighter with the Town of Oakville (Ontario) Fire Department.  He started in Oakville in 2010 where he worked for several years as a Training Officer before transferring to Suppression.  Prior to this, during his 10 years as a Paid-On-Call firefighter he worked his way through the ranks to become a District Chief and Training Officer with a volunteer fire department located in southwestern Ontario.  

Matt was previously contracted as a civilian Instructor with the Department of National Defense, Canadian Forces Fire Academy located on Base Borden, Ontario.  His main focus was teaching structural firefighting techniques to recruit Airforce Firefighters, but also assisted with the instruction of specialized rescue and aircraft rescue firefighting (ARFF).

Matt’s NFPA certifications include Firefighter II, Officer II, Instructor II, Incident Safety Officer and Vehicle Rescue Tech.  He has also been certified through the Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office as a Company Officer, Training Officer and Career Firefighter.

He has been a member of Firestar Training Services Inc. instructional staff since 2006 where he has taught both hands-on and lecture sessions across Canada and the United States, at conferences such as FDIC International, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, HROC, FDIC Atlantic and the BCFTOA conference.  Matt is also a proud member of the Hogtown FOOLS organization.

Matt has two DVDs published by Fire Engineering, The First Five Minutes, and The 21st Century Firefighter, both with long time friend and collaborator Mark van der Feyst.  They recently joined forces with Firefighter Rob Wiggins to write The Tactical Firefighter, also with Fire Engineering.