(BREMERTON) On
April 20th and 21st 2006, the International Association
of Fire Fighters, Washington State Council of Fire Fighters and
the Washington State Fire Chiefs Association hosted the first Fire
Ops 101 program in WashingtonState.
The event was held in Bremerton
following the jointly sponsored IAFF/WSCFF Educational Conference. Fire
Ops101 was created by the IAFF with the hope to educate policy makers on our
profession by putting them in situations that fire fighters and paramedics
throughout the United States
and Canada
face everyday. At the IAFF level Fire Ops 101 has been hosted in Las
Vegas, Honolulu,
Miami and San
Francisco with great results.
Thursday
April 20th brought the 32 participants and their shadows (fire
representatives) together for an informal gathering, team assignments and
orientation and for what was going to occur the next morning. President Fox,
IAFF 7th District VP Ricky Walsh, Chief Dan Packer, President of
the Washington State Fire Chiefs Association, Chief Wayne Senter
the Vice President of the WSCFA and Dan Olson Deputy Chief of Operations from
South Kitsap Fire and Rescue welcomed the group and thanked the participants
for the time and commitment to the event. It was recognized that there may be
skeptics in the group and we looked forward to the chance to change their
perspective of us, and our profession.
Friday morning started bright and early at 0700 with a
light breakfast and another chance to socialize. Around 0830 the groups moved
a holding area where the bunker gear and air-packs were stored, after the
participants were outfitted and checked over a morning safety briefing took
place emphasizing the importance of the team concept. The teams moved to
their first station and began the actual events right at 0900. The five
situations the policy makers participated in were 1) ladder operations 2)
vehicle extrication 3) search and rescue 4) Mega code station and 5) the
flashover trailer. In all scenarios there were certain common points touched
on, our response to incidences is time critical and staffing dependant.
The drill day concluded around 1400 hours followed by a
lunch and an awards presentation where each participant was given as a gift a
helmet with a (Fire Ops 101 Shield) and a certificate of completion. Many of
the participants appeared to be tired but there were many smiles in the room.
We have heard many positives about the event and understand that there was
some positive press coverage through television news and newspaper coverage.
The IAFF and the WSCFF would like to thank the Fire Chiefs
Association, and the following locals for their work and support on this
successful event:
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