Published: October 26, 2006 01:41 pm            

Burn and Learn

230 students, instructors attend annual fire school, learning new and better ways fight fires and save lives

The 21st Annual North Central Texas Area Fire School concluded Sunday at the Mineral Wells Fire Training Facility and Weatherford College at Wolters Industrial Park.

Some 230 students and instructors attended what has become known as one of the largest and best area fire schools in Texas. These firefighters represented some 59 cities and towns throughout Texas. They were awarded 2,950 training hours from the Emergency Services Training Institute, which is a part of the Texas A&M; Engineering Extension Service, a part of the Texas A&M; University System.

Last year some 2,484 training hours were awarded with 60 towns and cities represented.

Special guest at this year’s school was Chief Lynn Bizzell, head of the Municipal Fire School at Texas A&M.; He accompanied TEEX Extension Instructor Ronnie James to assist in conducting the school.

The school is sponsored by the Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department in cooperation with Texas A&M; and with assistance from Weatherford College, the City of Mineral Wells, the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce, the Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Department and Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway.

“Mineral Wells VFD has always had a commitment to excellence in this fire school and constantly changes the curriculum to meet the ever-changing needs of the fire service,” said Mineral Wells VFD Chief Steve Perdue.

New courses this year included “Wilderness Search and Rescue” taught by Jim Richardson, emergency management coordinator and fire marshal in Jack County, and “Hands On Pump Opeations” taught by F.D. Training Systems from Granbury.

An ever-popular course is “Combined Operations” where a building, donated by Keith Boyd, is approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for fire training. It is converted into several rooms, which were first set on fire and then used as a laboratory for the “Fire Cause and Origin Class” taught by Joey Lankford of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Gary Nabors, fire marshal for the City of Stephenville. Then the building was ignited and extinguished numerous times under the direction of Mineral Wells Fire Marshal Joel Thompson.

Field rotations consisted of fighting propane fires in meters, propane tanks and a gas separator as well as propane-fueled car fires. The school was greatly enhanced this year by a $4,000 facelift and rejuvenation of the smokehouse and “Save Our Own” prop. Monies for this rebuilding came from profits from previous fire schools.

The driving course was taught by Gary Rozzell, safety education officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, utilizing Mineral Wells fire trucks and the Weatherford College Truck Driving Academy driving range.

Mineral Wells VFD assistant chiefs Lynn Reasoner and Lane Voelcker taught auto extrication using donated vehicles Gary Seigler and Cross Tire towed all cars to the field. Logan Loftin, operations chief for Santo Fire Department, taught the Wildland Firefighting tactics.

In all, some 23 different courses were offered at this school. Ronnie James, TEEX instructor who has coordinated this school for several years, stated that the Mineral Wells fire school is one of the best organized and operated schools in the state. He had special praise for the help of Connie Parker, Denise Gill and Barry Gill for their help in registration and to Barry Holmes, Suzanne Fryer and Wanda Voelcker for their efficient management in feeding this large group.

“According to school organizers, this year’s school was a tremendous success and the feedback that was received from students is already being used to make the 22nd Annual North Central Texas Fire School bigger and better than ever,” Perdue said.

        

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