Two participants at the 2023 Spartan Fire Truck Training Conference (FTTC) were talking to each other about repairs they had in common. Before long, one said, “That’s how I got started in my business. I saw a need for it.” In a way, that’s the spirit of the conference. Back in 1994, Bill Foster saw a need for a conference to provide technicians with an opportunity to get the education they need to stay abreast of new developments as fire apparatus evolve and to stay up to date on their emergency vehicle technician (EVT) certifications.
In 2019, the FTTC celebrated its 25th anniversary, and that year welcomed 294 attendees who had 46 classes to choose from. This year, Spartan welcomed more than 300 attendees, offered more than 50 topics, and brought in 70 instructors. A change for this year was the expansion of the hands-on class offering. Event organizers responded to attendees and instructors requesting more hands-on classes by adding the classes, but reducing the number of registrants for each class to make them more manageable for the instructors.
A big part of the FTTC is listening—both students and instructors. In one class, an instructor remarked that he learns by listening to attendees. In another class, one student explained his method for replacing the air bag in an air ride seat, impressing another instructor who hadn’t heard of it being done that way.
The FTTC isn’t only about fire truck repair, it covers other components like seats, light towers, pressure governors, aerials, and more—all the components that comprise a fire apparatus.
By the end of Day 1, more than 300 attendees had navigated their way through five tracks of classes from the basics to in-depth technical training—and that’s only the first day. Along the way, they checked out new rigs on display from REV brands but, most importantly, got to network with other technicians.
