EAST FISHKILL – Volunteer firefighters from multiple volunteer Dutchess County fire departments trained recently on a vital role in the fire protection service; pump operations on fire apparatus. The fire department’s pumper engines provide the most integral tool necessary to extinguish fires…water. The group of students, supported by fire engines from New Hackensack, New Hamburg, and Union Vale fire departments learned how to draw water from a pond by one engine, relay it to a second engine up the street which then pumped it up the hill to a third engine that pushed the water to firefighters who had stretched hoses from the end of the line rig.
The training took place at Emmadine Park in the Town of East Fishkill.
Under the watchful eye of several New York State Fire Instructors, some of whom are professional firefighters, a group of approximately 20 volunteer firefighters recently took a 24-hour course designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for pump operations. The students learn the hydraulics and friction loss of pumping water from a hydrant, pond, pool, or other source to the firefighters taking hoses to the flames.
This course is in addition to the basic training that all volunteer firefighters must take.
Community members who volunteer with their local fire department begin by taking the Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations class, known as BEFO. The 79-hour class prepares new firefighters to operate only in the exterior areas of a fire scene. Students participate in learning events covering firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE), self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) inspection and cylinder changing, fire department communications, building construction and fire behavior, and much more. Progression of the members is supported by additional training to become an interior firefighter, apparatus operator, and other specialized training.
There is a tremendous shortage of volunteer firefighters…
Read the full article here