FIRE DEPARTMENT TRAINING MAN-HOURS 2010

 

 

The fire department prides itself on being one of the best trained in the region.  The men take training very serious because there is a direct correlation to personal safety.  The fire department currently has five employees enrolled in the required Bureau of Labor Firefighter Apprenticeship Program.  This program takes three years to complete and involves 6000 hours of training.  This is only the first step in the long process of fully training a firefighter.  In May three of the five will be completing the requirements and will be tested in May of 2011.  The department conducts in house on-duty training three days per week every week of the year.  In May of 2010 the fire department was awarded another training grant through the U.S. Homeland Security.  A contract company for the federal government named DPETAP from Arkansas conducted training for nine days on Hazardous Material Detection Equipment.  This class was open to surrounding fire departments at no cost.  Every municipal department in Kanawha County sent firefighters which allowed for better interagency relationship building. 

     In 2010 the fire department accumulated 3915.5 man-hours of training. Training consisted of emergency management, hazardous material, water rescue, trench rescue, firefighting tactics, incident command just to name a few.  Training is imperative to maintain the departments ISO Class 3 fire insurance rating.  There are only 4 other departments in WV of the 436 that have this outstanding rating.  This rating is used to determine homeowner’s insurance premiums.