Published: October 14, 2009 10:56 pm      

Savings in training

Training provides firefighters incentives

DUNCAN — Editor’s note: This is the second article in a two-part series on a firefighter’s school that Duncan hosted Saturday and Sunday.



Only four regional schools for firefighter training are held yearly in Oklahoma and Duncan was fortunate to host one this past weekend. It attracted 163 firefighters in 12 different classes. Some of those classes provided certification and the training also offered some additional incentives, said Gary Curtis, Southwest Training Specialist with Oklahoma State University’s Fire Service Training.

“There’s a certain amount of training required, and they’ll get a $200 savings off their state taxes,” Curtis said. The biggest advantage to the regional schools is the cost factor — or actually, the lack of cost to the hosting city and its surrounding rural departments.”

Two days of training is an expense that many rural communities just can’t afford, but Curtis said that $1 million is set aside for training firefighters thanks to state legislators who see that funding is available for the training programs.

“This is no cost training to firefighters. Even though $1 million was set aside, it doesn’t mean we will have that,” Curtis said. “That’s why we are trying to get that training out there.”

Besides the larger regional schools held in each of the “four corners of the state” smaller schools are held on the weekends. Curtis said those can consist of only one or two classes. Thirteen instructors were needed for the regional school and those come from firefighters, some retired, who have excellent evaluations, he said.

“We have instructors from all over Oklahoma,” he said. Once it’s determined that a city will host a regional school, firefighters in that region will sign up for multiple classes. The MAYDAY course, which was highlighted in part one of this Banner series Tuesday, is an 8-hour course that includes a power point presentation, classroom time and actual hands-on training in simulated ‘real life’ fire situations. Curtis said the maximum number of students allowed in that class is 16 and Duncan drew 15 on one day and 8 the second day.

The class attracting the most interest though was the extrication fundamentals class and the hazardous materials training class.

“We had 18 in haz-mat awareness,” he said. “It was a certification class that is required of all firefighters.”

Some of the other classes offered at Duncan’s regional host training included fire tanker safety operations, rope rescue fundamentals, pump operations, emergency vehicle driving training, referred to as EVDT, and a management class for small department engine company tactics.

Curtis said the classes offered gave the area firefighters practical applications they will use daily in their work, citing the extrication, water shuttle, and haz-mat classes specifically.