July 10^th – All summer long Greenwood Volunteers will be working on their certification levels to assure that they are capable of providing the best possible service to the fire district’s residents. Thanks to a grant from FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighter’s Grant program, Greenwood’s firefighters are working with a Granbury company, fireintexas.com, to gain higher levels of state certification.  In the picture above (starting at the top right) FF’s Chad McBride, Tom Palatino, Milt Reichek, Rod Bass, and Lieutenants Ben Meche and Mark Privitt receive instruction on the finer points of fire hose deployment.  All their skills are timed and in full bunker gear.  The firefighters must demonstrate that they can do the skills in times that are established as state standards.

It’s a lot of hard work in the heat of a Texas summer and the firefighter’s must be monitored continuously to assure that they don’t develop heat exhaustion.  One of the firefighter’s compared the training to the two-a-days that he went through in high school football.

As the number of certified firefighters grows it will help the department to improve its insurance rating, which ultimately will yield lower fire insurance premiums for the district’s residents.

 

     On May 15^th and 16^th, 2010, when most kids are counting down the days until they get out of school, Parker County and surrounding firefighter’s met at the Weatherford  College May 15^th and 16^th for two full days of classroom and hands-on training.  Through the Fire Sciences and Continuing Education Office, Mr. Steve Malley and his staff put together an agenda of much needed training classes for area firefighters to attend.

     Members of Greenwood Rural VFD (ESD # 7) joined many other department members for classes in Emergency Vehicle Driving, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), and Pump Operations / Alternative Water Supply classes. 

     Although all the members of Greenwood VFD are volunteers, they still need to meet training requirements, attend  classes and exercises, in addition to meeting the State, County, and Department guidelines on training and certifications. We applaud all those members who gave up their weekend with family and friends to further their education. Although many of these classes are required to be a firefighter, but more importantly, help firefighters learn new skills, expand their knowledge and experience, and train with other departments in the county and area.

     Greenwood VFD had nine members attend classes, all of whom passed and received their Certificates of Completion, and gained additional hours and credits in their Continuing Education. Weatherford  College Fire School is already looking forward to the next session of classes which may be held later this year.

     Lt. John Sharp completed Highway Scene Safety and Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction classes. FF John Young completed Tank Operations / Alternative Water Sources. The Emergency Vehicle Driving Class was completed and passed by FF Tom Palatino, ECA/FF Milt Riechek, FF Ryan Klix, FF Phillip Grippon, and Lt.  Ben Meche.

Article Written by Lt. Ben Meche