Clarissa Kell | Daily Press Escanaba Public Safety Director Rob LaMarche stands inside the department’s training room at the Escanaba Public Safety Department building Friday.

ESCANABA — The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) Fire Fighters Training Council is working on a new set of certification standards and continuing training standards aimed to ensure all Michigan firefighters are well prepared.

Concerns have been raised by fire departments that the proposed requirements could have repercussions for smaller, volunteer fire departments. The vast majority of the Upper Peninsula’s fire departments are volunteer-based.

According to Escanaba Public Safety Director Rob LaMarche, the new requirements are not finalized yet, but departments around Michigan know they’re coming and are trying to prepare as best they can.

“I don’t know what our requirements are going to be, other than generalizing we’re going to have to make adjustments to the way we currently train our firefighters and meet the certain certifications required by the state according to the draft,” he said.

The two main changes include recruits needing to complete hours in a structured classroom setting before taking the written test and practicals to become certified and continuous training requirements for certified fire fighters.

As of right now, certified fire fighters are not mandated by the state to continue training after certification and recruits can be taught the skills and knowledge they need to become certified within their own department.

LaMarche explained EPSD already continues training after certification, but the new requirement will make it mandatory and requirements will have to be met in those training sessions. He added he’s not sure if the current training ­sessions completed in-house would meet the standards set by the state yet.

The amount of training hours someone needs to complete each year depends on the certification level of the fire fighter, as well.

Fire Chief Brian Nelson, of the Ford River Volunteer Fire Department, explained the minimum certification level a fire fighter must complete is Fire Fighter I and II, but there are more levels including Fire Officers and Fire Instructors. From what Nelson has been hearing about the new continuous training standard, there will be more hour requirements for a fire fighter if they have a higher certification.

According to Nelson, most volunteer fire departments have monthly training meetings, which usually last a couple hours.

Both Nelson and LaMarche said it is extremely important for fire fighters to continuously train and get educated in safe practices for fighting fires.

The concerns with the new standards involve rural areas, like the Upper Peninsula, where many of the departments are volunteer-based.

Nelson said if the monthly training meetings count then there won’t be a big change in regards to continuous training for most volunteer fire departments. If the meetings don’t count, it may cause conflict with volunteer’s schedules since most also have full-time jobs.

“No one knows for sure,” he said.

When it comes to the requirements making training more like a classroom setting with an instructor, both LaMarche and Nelson could see issues it could cause for volunteer fire departments.

LaMarche explained he is already having some of his officers become certified as instructors to be proactive. He noted full-time departments, like Escanaba Public Safety, have an advantage because new officers will can be taught in the department’s training room at work and volunteers cannot.

He added the requirements are asking a lot from people who are already volunteering.

“We will definitely be impacted by the changes, but I think our volunteer departments will be impacted greater,” LaMarche said. “Ultimately, if the volunteer departments are affected by the changes, we will too, as we have a good working relationship with them and rely on each other through mutual aid.”

According to Nelson, he could see the more structured certification process causing conflicts for new recruits because they will have to balance work and classes. He added there is already a decline in people willing to become a part of volunteer fire departments nationwide, and he could see the issues with the certification process deterring more people from becoming fire fighters.

“It just makes it more difficult to accommodate everyone who is interested in joining,” Nelson said.

The expectation is for the new standards to be finalized and go into effect by the start of the state’s fiscal year in October.

Nelson said a lot of the input that went into these changes came from downstate, and those departments don’t really think about how rural departments face different challenges due to being so spread out and having smaller populations and not as many training opportunities.

“(They) don’t consider those types of struggles rural departments face,” he said.