Training Day

By: Jennifer Kinser 

Everyone from the Chief to the Rookie suited up Saturday at Marshall Township Volunteer Fire Department for a day of training. Seven members showed up and put themselves to the test on an endurance obstacle course set up inside the fire station located in Northern Lawrence County.

Training Officer Mike Pennington organized and orchestrated the 4 hour training. Going one at a time, they suited up in their full turnout gear complete with a full SCBA tank and mask. Their first obstacle was a ladder climb, and then they moved on to the cones, where they had to weave through the cones 3 times and transfer a ball from the top of one cone to the top of the other one. The hose pull was next, requiring the firefighters to drag the charged houseline outside and spray it. Once back inside they lifted and lowered a pole 15 times (which simulated using a pike pole to rip out a ceiling) and drove a tire across the floor with a sledgehammer. The final 2 stations of the course had the firefighters pulling a weighted dummy dressed in full turnout gear and climbing under a table to transfer rolled lengths of fire hose.

The department members were encouraged to keep going through the course as many times as they felt they could or until their air bottle ran out. After they were done with the course, it was noted how much air, if any was remaining in their air bottle.  This was done to help calculate how much air per minute they used on the course.

The reason for the training was to give the firefighters an idea of how much time they have to work with a bottle of air. Marshall Township’s current air bottles are 30 minute bottles, but when those are being worn by an active, moving firefighter they last, on average, half that amount of time.  Every person consumes air at a different rate, but training like this also allows fire officers to better match the firefighters into teams when they are entering a structure.  This is just a small part of the training the department strives to do on a monthly basis to keep everyone acquainted with the equipment.

Firefighter Brian Blosser thought the training session was very useful. “It lets you know your limits for your safety and the others that would possibly go in to a structure fire with you.  I think it should be done at least once a year, it does not hurt to have the extra practice with a SCBA tank on.”

The training day concluded with a meal provided by the departments auxiliary. Chief Sheldon Kinser said he was pleased with the training and would like to do it again in 6 or 7 months. To see all the pictures from Saturday’s training you can visit the departments MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/mtvfdfire.

Jennifer Kinser is a free lance writer for Bedford Online