The Martelle Fire Department had the opportunity to get some needed training in over the course of the weekend just outside their front door.
The Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau brought a training apparatus, which just debuted earlier in the spring, for department members to be able to practice certain scenarios to simulate structure fires.
“It’s amazing,” Martelle Fire Chief Trent Tapken said of the department’s ability to be able to use the equipment. “The Fire Service Training Bureau does a great job. They get some of the best training props they can get, and as long as we have 12 or more firefighters come to this training class, it’s all free.
“It doesn’t cost us anything. It’s funded by the state.”
Being able to hold such trainings and have quality simulations is becoming more important for departments as the training requirement increase, but opportunities to train become harder to come by.
“We used to be able to burn a lot of old buildings down to get our training. It’s gotten harder to do that nowadays. So, this is very vital,” Tapken said.
The number of fire calls the department goes out on has also decreased over the years, putting a premium on opportunities like this.
Utilizing propane, those in control of the practice scenario are able to control the flame and simulate different rooms, like going down into a basement fire or a first-floor residential blaze. While performing the exercise, firefighters are practicing things like how to properly attack a blaze, how to properly handle hoses, and pumping operations.
Once the supervisor of the exercise feels like the steps taken would have put out the fire, he turns off the propane, and the flames are extinguished.
For Saturday’s exercise, the Martelle crew was joined by their comrades from Mount Vernon. Whenever opportunities like this arise, the call goes out to other local departments to ensure they have the opportunity to take advantage of the training, too.