Aaron Gormly is the Business Manager and Lead Trainer at PRM Training. He also works at Orange Fire Station and has been a professional firefighter, with Fire and Rescue NSW, for 16 years.
“On top of my full-time job, running PRM Training, I do two 24-hour shifts in an eight-day cycle with the FRNSW in Orange,” says Aaron.
“Everyone on our training and consultancy team are full-time, professional firefighters. It’s essential work that enhances our expertise in emergency management and planning.”
Aaron joined the NSW Fire Brigade after an important conversation with his dad.
“When I was younger, I was a bit of a lost soul,” he says. “I dabbled in lots of things – University, a family business, the transport industry. When I was 22 years old my Dad said, ‘They’re advertising for firefighters, you should go for it.’ I had applied and was accepted into the police service but when I looked into the fire brigade it really appealed to me.”
How to manage people under pressure
Aaron brings his extensive experience with FRNSW to the board room, as well as the training classroom.
“A lot of the incident management strategy we learn at the Fire Brigade translates to our training, and our business methodology,” he says.
“Having good firm command and control structures, that we utilise in fire rescue, are of a paramilitary nature. Plus they translate to our education when we’re teaching people how to build an effective emergency control organisation. We run our business in a similar way.”
Fast forward almost two decades and Aaron says his work in the fire brigade has given him more that just hard skills when it comes to emergency situations.
“I have no fear delegating to someone who is smarter or better than me. In the fire brigade we always turn to each other and say, ‘Who knows more about this?’ I really endorse this method of working because it gets the best possible outcome for everyone. I would love all businesses to do more of this.”
With this degree of training and experience PRM pride themselves at managing people under pressure.
“Communicating well will always assist people with stress management. Communicate early, communicate often and never keep anyone in the dark.”
“We take teams from their workplace to our fire training ground in Western Sydney so they can get an understanding of what it’s like to be an operational firefighter,” explains Aaron.
“It also teaches people how to communicate well under pressure and how to work together as a team in an emergency situation.”
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