National Fire Academy Begins Eighth Year of Coffee Break Training

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February 2012

The U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA) National Fire Academy (NFA) recently began its eighth year of providing timely and useful instructional tips for first responders through its popular online Coffee Break Training series.

Launched on November 29, 2005, Coffee Break Training consists of one-topic weekly training vignettes delivered to USFA website visitors and more than 43,000 email subscribers in the U.S. and around the world. Each training item is designed to be consumed in just a few minutes over a "cup of coffee." The NFA has delivered more than 350 of these training segments since the program began.

The initial Coffee Break series focused on fire protection topics such as automatic sprinkler systems, building and fire codes, fire protection water supplies, and safe storage practices. From time to time there are special lessons developed called "Hot Coffee" (significant emerging issues) and "Special Blend" (reminders of historically significant events / lessons learned). In the last few years, the Coffee Break series has expanded to include fire investigation, fire prevention management, public education, emergency medical services, and research techniques at the NETC Learning Resource Center. Recently, other parts of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency began adopting the NFA's Coffee Break model.

U.S. Fire Administrator Ernie Mitchell said, "The Coffee Break Training series is one of our most popular media for sharing up-to-the minute training. Busy first responders can get a quick and easy-to-read training tip that they can apply the same day it appears."

Deputy Fire Administrator Glenn Gaines added, "The purpose of the Coffee Break Training program is to deliver provocative topics with measurable learning objectives. They are modeled on Gordon Graham's insightful 'five minutes of short, verifiable training' that over time accumulates into real performance improvements."

Students who receive the Coffee Break Training series can earn free continuing education units through quarterly exams posted on NFA Online. For more information, or to sign up for the free Coffee Break Training series, visit the Coffee Break web page.