March 9, 2021 at 1:10 p.m.
Nicolet College instructor Carlin named Wisconsin Firefighter Instructor of the Year
Nicolet College instructor Carlin named Wisconsin Firefighter Instructor of the Year
"You really don't want YouTube firefighters, those who get their training only from YouTube videos," Carlin, who is also the chief at the Lake Tomahawk Volunteer Fire Department, explained in a press release. "These are skills that have to be learned hands on and my biggest fear was that we were gong to have stop the classes and have all of these failures when we were so close to finishing."
Not one to be easily deterred, Carlin began brainstorming solutions.
What if they decentralized the hands-on training, broke the classes into small groups so they could socially distance, and spread the training out to local fire departments across the Northwoods to cut down on travel?
In the middle of the pandemic he took the idea, which also included elements of online learning where appropriate, to college leadership and received their blessing.
In the end, all of the students finished their classes and those who were eligible received their state firefighter certifications.
Fellow Nicolet Firefighter Instructor Alex Kaphingst was more than impressed with Carlin's determination and ingenuity.
"He just wasn't going to sit back and wait for someone else to come up with a solution," Kaphingst said. "That's just not the type of guy he is."
After giving it some thought, Kaphingst decided he had to nominate Carlin for the Wisconsin Society of Emergency Services Instructor of the Year, an award the statewide association recently bestowed upon him.
"It was nothing short of phenomenal what Mike put together in a short period of time to make all of this work. He's deeply committed to emergency services education and I think what he did in the depths of the pandemic demonstrates that," Kaphingst said.
Carlin also credits many of his colleagues at local volunteer fire departments throughout the region for their enthusiastic willingness and nimbleness to bring training to their facilities on short notice.
"It really was a team effort and hats off to everyone at the local departments for helping make this training happen," Carlin said.
Departments that opened their doors to Nicolet instructors to continue with the training included Eagle River, Nokomis, Arbor Vitae, Minocqua, and his own department, Lake Tomahawk.
He added that the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, which grants state fire fighter certifications, has heard about this new training format and is looking at it as a potential new training model they would roll out across the state.
"It's easy to think that just because we live in a rural area that there's not that much innovation and ingenuity going on up here," said Carlin, who worked for more than 15 years as a professional paramedic and firefighter in Sun Prairie before moving to the Northwoods.
"It drives me crazy when I hear that because I know first hand the high level of skills and knowledge that we have in our local fire departments. They truly are an amazing group of talented people who are committed to public safety."
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