Fire Department conducts training exercise at Station II

GORDONVILLE, Mo., (KBSI) – Many area fire departments are completing fire training and gearing up for those summer months as they say we often see more fire incidences throughout the summer.

Michael Gentry is the fire chief of the Gordonville Fire Protection District. He says they complete training to help them prepare for different fire scenarios. 

Gordonville Fire Protection District members underwent training Monday, focusing on vehicle extrications, primary searches, rescues and the use of thermal imaging cameras.

The exercise was held at the department’s Station 2 training building, a simulated two-story residential house with obstacles designed for various training scenarios.

“They spent about three hours going over, vent, isolate, search, primary search and rescue, vent rescue, and air pack training too” says Gentry.

Making firefighters fully prepared for whatever fire situation may come.

Gentry says the weather conditions often play a role in fire incidents.

“We’ve seen an increase in brush fires and grass fires mainly because of the dry conditions with the wind coming through on Fridays expecting to be a windy day so if you’re expecting to burn that day it probably won’t be a good day to burn. The wind can take a small brush fire and turn it into a major issue” says Gentry.

Gentry says to aways check for burn bans and weather conditions in your area before burning.

“If that fire gets out of control, gets to a neighbor’s property, now there’s structure involved and that becomes a whole big scenario that could’ve been avoided by either you being there with your brush fire, having a water source available or paying attention to the weather and not burning” says Gentry.

To find out if there’s a burn ban in your area call your local fire department or go to your local fire departments webpage.