POINT SYSTEM - Drills

The next category in the State law is the drill category. This is a very short category in the statute:

Drills—twenty points maximum. One point per drill (minimum two hour drill).

Similar to the Training Courses category, there is no definition of a drill in Article 11-A of the New York State General Municipal Law. However, there are definition s in both 11-AA and 11-AAA, the statutes that govern the ambulance squad programs. Here is that definition: For purposes of this paragraph, the term “drill” shall mean a skills practice or skills training session related to emergency medical service... So similar to the Training Category, this seems to be a good working definition of what a Drill should be for a fire department LOSAP.

First, the obvious requirement is that a drill must be a minimum of two hours. All that means is that to meet the definition of a drill under State law, the drill must last two hours. The fire department can still have a one-hour drill, or a mini-drill, it just wouldn't count as a drill for the purposes of this category. It would have to be considered a Miscellaneous point.

Another issue that often comes up in terms of time is a drill that might last four or more hours. Based on audit reports issued by the Office of the State Comptroller, they have stated that Miscellaneous points are one point per activity, regardless of the time spent. For example, a sponsor could not give one point per hour. As a result, we believe that the State would be critical of awarding two points for a four-hour drill. However, it would seem that a reasonable work-around would be that the drill be broken into two, two-hour sessions. This would require two sign-in sheets and for the drill to be broken into two parts, but then there would be two distinct drills of two-hour length.

We once had a question about a one-person drill. You can read more about that here: 

One Person Drill?

The drill category is a fairly non-controversial category - just make sure the drill is at least two hours long, and the sign-in sheets or similar documentation are clear that the drill did last two hours.