Capitol Fire Training

Capitol Fire Training Capitol Fire Training LLC is devoted to teaching firefighters across the nation basic and advanced s
(4)

Capitol Fire Training LLCis a corporation composed of experienced Fire and Rescue Instructors and Firefighters from all over the United States. Our Instructors hail from organizations ranging in size from the smallest to some of the largest and most successful departments in our Nation. Capitol Fire Training Instructors share real-life training, techniques, and experiences that go beyond your ever

yday drills and manuals. We strive to make every lecture and hands-on training fun and interactive while simultaneously meeting the specific needs of your staffing, department, or organization.

height“Forcible Entry Friday”:We don’t need to cover window bars and coverings…we’ve hit that at topic to exhaustion. Bu...
09/04/2026

height
“Forcible Entry Friday”
:
We don’t need to cover window bars and coverings…we’ve hit that at topic to exhaustion. But we will talk about addressing them at height. These coverings are tubular metal over slider doors where no porch/deck exists. Some units have them over the windows as well.
:
Often we practice addressing these challenges from street level, standing on the ground and operating a saw or our hand tools. This is where it takes skill being able to navigate these from a ground ladder, or an aerial device or platform. No different from the ground, they need to be removed from the exterior early. In some cases as an IC even assigning a company to handle them while others are working (this could even include your outside RIT company). Addressing these from inside is going to be a challenge for any firefighter. Two options
1. Cut it & drop it.
2. Pry it & hinge it/ drop it
:
See these challenges, address them early, and train for them outside of the norm of standing on the ground. Spice up the training!!!!
:

The Fire Gets A Vote“Conditions Drive Tactics”:We can show up to jobs forever and a day, and think we have the best plan...
08/31/2026

The Fire Gets A Vote
“Conditions Drive Tactics”
:
We can show up to jobs forever and a day, and think we have the best plan in place, and most of the time it really is a good plan (in theory), but there’s many factors that dictate the outcome of the fire, and most of the times it’s the things that we didn’t account for in the most perfect of plans. Not all the time does a new parking lot mean bad tactics were deployed. If you’ve been in the service a while you’ve probably heard the saying “the fire gets a vote”, and what does that mean?
:
The fire gets a vote is an old saying that puts emphasis on the fact that we could have many things in place:
-Staffing Levels
-SOP’s/SOG’s
-Fast Response Times
-Top of the line equipment
-Proper Apparatus Positioning
-Competent Members

But at the end of the day, the conditions that present at any fire can change on us in a NY minute. Those are the factors that we cannot control like:
-Hidden Fire
-Wind Conditions
-Building Construction
-Flow Paths Consistently Changing
:
We 💯 get to make the plan, but the fire gets a vote too. Our job/responsibility for all those on the fireground (especially unit/command officers) is to recognize what the fire in front of us is telling us, adjust ourselves before it decides to adjust us. Remember…the fire gets a vote!
:

(📸 Middle of the row townhouse in Frederick MD. Crews arrived to an outside in fire on the rear. The fire breached the basement level in the rear and worked its way up to the 1st floor. When crews forced the front door the flow path helped it travel upstairs. Conditions deteriorated very fast, while crews were making their way inside and upstairs forcing crews to evacuate).
:

What’s Your Organizations Priorities? :There has to be an even balance between putting too much down on paper and leavin...
08/26/2026

What’s Your Organizations Priorities?
:
There has to be an even balance between putting too much down on paper and leaving some things open for interpretation. Sometimes a good policy actually leaves room for people to read between the lines and develop their own game plan. Too much is micromanaging. Not enough...CHAOS!!! Again, even balance.
:
With that said, the operational doctrine(s) should have a flow, and should have some details in the things that are important to saving civilians, saving firefighters and running a smooth fireground (as the main priority). When we make those be the priorities, everything else outside of that is just extra. We can all agree there has to be some rules in order to establish a level of professionalism and gain public trust, but it cannot be at the expense of those 3 things noted above. Saving civilians…saving firefighters…and running a smooth fireground!
:
Look at your department’s SOP’s/SOG’s. Count the pages. What’s your organizations priorities?
:

08/24/2026

The Most Important Task/Skill
“Commercial Forcible Entry”
:
Everyone wants to say that their task is the most important on a commercial fire…

-Water to the fire ‼️
-Search ‼️
-Large area search tactics ‼️
-Vertical ventilation ‼️
:
And while we won’t argue that they are important, the most important skill that we need to be proficient at is forcible. Entry for commercial buildings. Commercial buildings especially in urban areas have the most locks, challenges, and if they’ve had bad history or break ins they’re going to be fortified to no other. If we cannot get into the building, half of that list noted above is irrelevant.
:
Good firefround operations all are derived from good forcible entry tactics. No such thing as a firefight if you can’t get into the building. Get out see the locks, doors and challenges that present in your 1st and 2nd due areas. Being prepared comes long before the call.
:
(🎥 : This past weekend we delivered a presentation at the Camp Freedom camp conference for firefighters from all over Pennsylvania. This clip is from the presentation “Efficient & Effective Commercial Forcible Entry- Bigger Buildings Present Bigger Problems” by Robert James
:

Our annual Jerry Fickes Memorial Training event has exactly 1 spot left. With that being said here’s another opportunity...
08/21/2026

Our annual Jerry Fickes Memorial Training event has exactly 1 spot left. With that being said here’s another opportunity for the masses.
:
This year’s social event will be held Saturday Sept. 19th, 2026 at Aetna Hose Hook & Ladder Co. Sta. 8, and the event will bring in FDNY retired fireman Alfred “Al” Benjamin. Al will deliver a keynote presentation called “The Rescue Business-There’s Firefighter’s & There’s Rescue Firefighters”, which coincides with this years theme of rescue company skills. Who better to deliver a presentation than a guy who retired from one of the most prestigious rescue company’s in America.
:
Class Description:
Being a firefighter in a Rescue Company is very different. Rescue firefighters belong to elite companies within their organizations that specialize in many hazards outside of basic firefighting. With those roles require more training, more specialized tools, and more unique responses to different types of calls.

This program will dive into the mindset, skills and experience needed to be a rescue company firefighter. This program is an interactive lecture that highlights training, calls and experience from a senior fireman that spent 20 years in FDNY’s Rescue Company 1 and Special Operations Command.

Al Benjamin Bio:
Al Benjamin is a retired member of the New York City Fire Department. Al started his fire service career with Engine Company 221 in Williamsburg Brooklyn in 1977. Al has served in the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs. In 1982 he then crossed the floor to Ladder Company 104 where he served for another ten years, prior to transferring to Rescue Company 1 in Midtown Manhattan. Al was a member of the Special Operations Command, where he served as a senior fireman for 20 years at Rescue 1, as well as served on numerous committees and FDNY workgroups for the service and its members. Al has also been responsible for trainings at the FDNY fire academy located on Randalls Island.
:

“At some point, everything’s going to go south on you... you’re going to say, ‘This is it. This is how I end.’ Now you c...
08/18/2026

“At some point, everything’s going to go south on you... you’re going to say, ‘This is it. This is how I end.’ Now you can either accept that or you can get to work. That’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem, and you solve the next one, and then the next. If you solve enough problems, you get to go home”.

-Matt Damon
The Martian (2015)

(📸 Capitol Fire Training L.L.C. - This weekend students from the Jimmy Ellis Training Weekend attended our new program “Mayday Movements”. This class was designed to not only teach students how to escape from an untenable situation, but to show them the visual cues to look for prior to the environment changing on them. Often times there’s red flags that present, telling us things are about to go sideways, and the red flags are usually missed, leading us down this spiraling path of things going sideways. Our goal is to show students the signs so that they can either address it if they have the ability to, or make the proper notification and escape the situation).
:
Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend and participated in our program. Lots of information sharing and reps on the methods to save themselves.
:

08/17/2026

*Jimmy Ellis Recap*
This past weekend our instructors traveled to Butler PA for the 4th annual Jimmy Ellis Training Weekend . This year we delivered our new program “Mayday Movements”. This program is designed to give students an opportunity to sit through a lecture on mayday procedures, followed by HOT where students actually work on their mayday process.
:
In this program students actually use portable radios to call a mayday to their department policy (under the supervision of trained instructors). Following their mayday students will then execute an escape tactic (window hang, ladder bail, or PES-Personal Escape System). Along with that, students also operate in an untenable fire condition that requires them to remove a downed firefighter and then escape out.
:
Thank you to the staff that worked tirelessly to put on a yet excellent conference all to honor Jimmy Ellis and the legacy that he left the fire service. Every detail about this conference is everything we should strive to be day in and day out.

‼️**New Product Alert**‼️“Dual Locks” Force Plates:Finally after a few years we got the first round of our new and impro...
08/13/2026

‼️**New Product Alert**‼️
“Dual Locks” Force Plates
:
Finally after a few years we got the first round of our new and improved Force Plates. The newest version comes with an additional locking point, to make two points of locks to address during forcible entry training.
:
Capitol Force Plates were the 1st and the only forcible entry plate system that can be used on acquired structures. The plates get added to the front/back/side door to any structure and use 1x2 during strips as your locking mechanisms to break. The dual locks give more resistance, and another point for members to have to navigate progress capturing all while still working the halligan around the door to attack the locks.
:
For this first round we have sets of plates stocked and ready to ship. Hit our “shop” section of the website, or link in our bio to get your plates today.
:
(CFT Force Plates also serve on stand alone props in your firehouse using real doors. Contact us to get schematics on how to make your own prop in house and use our plates as your door’s locks).
:
(Made in the USA 🇺🇸 / Official United States Patent ,346S on first rendition & Patent Pending on current)
:

On this day 5 years ago we lost Frederick County Fire/Rescue Capt. Josh Laird (posthumously promoted to Battalion Chief)...
08/11/2026

On this day 5 years ago we lost Frederick County Fire/Rescue Capt. Josh Laird (posthumously promoted to Battalion Chief). Chief Laird made the ultimate sacrifice while operating at a house fire on Box 23-11, when lightning struck a house puncturing a corrugated stainless steel tubing line (CSST) creating a fire in a basement. As the fire began in the basement, extending into the house Chief Laird fell into the basement during suppression efforts, needing help to be removed from the space. Chief laird later succumbed to these injuries resulting in a Line of Duty Death (LODD) for Frederick County Fire.
:
Through this tragedy we have learned so much about the dangers of CSST (thanks to his wife Sarah and the work of Phoenix Advocates ), tactics for safely attacking basement fires and the options for having to remove a firefighter from an untenable space. Chief Laird will always forever live with us, his family, and the Frederick County Fire Department. When tragedies like this strike us, we honor them by always sharing who they were, what they’ve taught us, and keeping their name alive as if they’re still with us to this day.
:
August 11th, 2021 is a day none of us will ever forget, but every day we keep Josh’s name and spirit alive, be it on our helmets, our uniform shirts, our apparatus and our assignment boards, and in our training programs. May we always remember Battalion Chief Josh Laird. Box 23-11
:
lodd

Address

Washington D.C., DC

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(240)3953701

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Capitol Fire Training posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Capitol Fire Training:

Shortcuts

Share

Category