On Sunday May 31st eleven members of the Tri-Town Fire Co. along with several firefighters from Roulette Dept. 46 and Genesee Dept. 37 completed the thrid of four modules of the Delmar Essentials of Firefighting course. This module, Exterior Firefighting, built upon the knowledge the firefighters obtained in the first two modules of the course, Introduction to Firefighting and Firegound Support. The thrid module included 42 hours of training in ground ladder placement and operations, pre-fire planning, sprinler system operations, public fire prevention and forcible entry. The training included a trip to the Tri-County Fireman's Association trainging facility in Smethport to conduct ladder evolutions on the ladder training tower located there as well as a trip to Electricord to get first hand information on the layout and operation of a sprinkler system in a commercial building. As part of the course the sudent firefighters each were required to conduct a pre-fire planning exersize of a local business. The information provided by the students will be used by the department as part of the pre-fire planning process.

A short video illustrating some aspects of the training this group of firefighters has gone through during the Delmar course can be found in our Video Gallery.

Tri-Town Jr FFs Mike Gray, Kyle Hunt and Nichole Healy

This past week three Junior Firefighters from the Tri-Town Fire and Ambulance Co. in Ulysses attended the sixth “Junior Fire & EMS Leadership Challenge” in Camp Hill, PA. The event was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Fire & Emergency Services Institute and the Fireman’s Legislative Federation. Taking part in the three day event were Jr. FF Nichole Healy, Jr. FF Kyle Hunt and Jr. FF Michael Gray. The Junior Firefighters were accompanied by senior department member Capt. Mike Healy who is one of the Junior Firefighter program advisors. A total of 30 Junior Firefighters along with about a dozen senior advisors from around the state took part in the event.

Things got kicked off at 1300 hrs on Sunday and everyone quickly got to work. After staff introductions everyone was separated into one of four groups based upon symbols on their name tags. Members from a single department were intentionally placed into separate groups in an effort to foster increased networking and leadership skills right from the start. Once this was completed each team selected a team leader and developed a team name. They also received information on the projects that each team would need to complete over the course of the event. The groups also took part in their first “team building” event, the group ski challenge. After dinner the group would listen to a presentation on leadership by Kevin Nelson of KPN Consulting. Mr. Nelson has been involved in the emergency services for more than two decades and has been active in the State’s Incident Management Team.

Starting with breakfast at 0700 hrs on Monday everyone got an early start to what would be a long and busy day. Immediately following breakfast was guest speaker Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Ed Mann. The Commissioner outlined many of the challenges that lay ahead for the prospective future leaders of the state’s emergency services. He equated the current state of the fire service in Pennsylvania to the situation back in the mid-1970’s when what would become the state’s EMS system was in total disarray. He stated that it is unlikely that the fire service will be able to remain an “unregulated industry” in the state and that measures are needed to ensure that fire departments across the state have the proper leadership in order to be successful in the future.