Albany VFD members attend fire school
Three members of the Albany Volunteer Fire Department attended the 89th Annual Municipal Fire Training School held at Brayton Training Field in College Station last week, July 23-27.
Clay and Mel Deatherage completed their sixth year as invited guest instructors.
They taught Building Construction for the Fire Service in the Phase II part of the program.
New local volunteer Joel Viertel successfully completed Firefighting Phase I.
“The middle of summer, in 105 degree temperatures, is not the ideal time to shut down my air-conditioning business for a week and don heavy, insulated firefighting equipment,” Viertel said. “I couldn’t afford the time to go, but I couldn’t afford not to.”
Viertel said that fighting fires is inherently dangerous and proper training can make the difference between life or death, both for the firefighter and for fire victims.
The 36-hour Phase I course Viertel completed is designed for firefighters that are beginning their career as firefighters.
Course topics include History of the Fire Service, Safety, Personal Protective Equipment, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, and Fire Control. The course culminates with the students battling vehicle fires.
“I wish that we could have had more practice actually fighting fires, but the material covered in the classroom was also very important,” Viertel said. “I’ve already started making plans to teach what I learned to our other firefighters. Several of us are relatively new to the department, and I want to share what I learned with them.”
Viertel said that he intends to go back in the future to train in additional phases, especially in the one geared toward structure fires.
“I’ve been fortunate to go several times in the past,” said fire chief Kyle Tischler. “It is a state-of-the-art facility with almost 500 instructors, and I always enjoy going and learning. But with limited funding, I see a greater need to send our firefighters who have not been before.”
This was Viertel’s first time to attend the firefighter training at TAMU, though he has trained at classes in Abilene.
The School
The annual firefighting school was created in 1929 as a joint project between the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas (SFFMA) and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).
This year, a total of 1,601 students representing both volunteer and paid fire departments attended the school which offers 30 courses during the week. The classes were taught by 490 guest instructors who were invited by TEEX to conduct the classes.
Volunteer fire departments are eligible for tuition reimbursement, lodging, and meal plan assistance via a grant program administered by the Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS).
