Our four core competencies
The International Fire Academy offers learning and experience worlds consisting of four core competencies: A widely recognized firefighting procedure in the firefighting world, globally unique training tunnel facilities in Balsthal and Lungern, a highly motivated training corps and the further development of technical aids for operations.
Practising on the real object
In 1999, a total of 51 people were killed in two fires in the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the Tauern Tunnel. As a result, the Swiss Federal Roads Office (ASTRA) set up a task force to optimise tunnel safety. One result was: The fire services must be able to prepare for operations in road tunnels on the real object. At the beginning of 2001, the Intercantonal Fire Service Training Centre commissioned its Didactics and Development Team (DDT) to design suitable training facilities. This team concluded that a training tunnel alone would not suffice. Special tactics and techniques must also be developed, and instructors need to teach them.
You have to be able to experience it for yourself
Nothing is as instructive as real deployments. But these are very risky if you have not learned to identify the dangers and deal with them properly. From this simple realization came our didactic concept: Our course participants should be able to experience real operating conditions for themselves, but without exposing them to uncontrollable risks.
Our didactic principle is: Let them learn! That's why we teach indirectly by creating complex learning and experience worlds. They give students the opportunity to see for themselves what the challenges are and how best to solve them.
