History: 1995  Dr. Ian Millar  USA and Canada. 1996 Denis Rich, Allan Morton, Dr. Ian Millar Wellington, New Zealand. 1996 Allan Morton - USA (MFB Scholarship). 1999 Denis Rich and Allan Morton USA. In hindsight, the delay to the training program and the ability to study overseas models worked in favour of the development of a more suitable training program for the Melbourne environment. Training was purposely developed by the EMS Project Team to ensure the actual training delivery emphasised emergency medical life saving skills that was more appropriate for firefighters style of learning. This approach differed markedly from the traditional health science approach of emergency medical personnel, in that, training emphasised assessing and treating presenting life threatening problems without a need to diagnose the underlying condition. Following the 2 year hiatus, training recommenced in 1997 with MUCAPS, retained to deliver the training program. Faced with the mammoth task of training over 1300 operational firefighters within the required timeframe, a training course and schedule was developed to integrate with routine on-shift operations. This involved firefighters attending courses on rostered day-shifts over a 32 day period. To facilitate this, courses were run concurrently 7 days per week in blocks of 4 incorporating all platoons. A training program and schedule of this scale in such a new skill area was an historical first for the MFB, and has subsequently set the standard for all Brigade training programs to follow. The training program involved each fire fighter receiving a short pre-course self-paced preparatory package (anatomy and physiology) and 8 days of classroom and practical training