Published: March 29, 2008 09:01 pm      

Firefighters converge on Mercer County

PRINCETON — A group of 92 dedicated emergency responders representing several departments and squads from the region and from as far away as Wood County, descended on Mercer County for a weekend training session aimed at improving their skills.

“They’re giving up their weekend to come here, take these classes and improve their ability to help the people in their communities,” Captain Billy Trump of the Beckley Fire Department said. Trump is an 18-year veteran firefighter who has been training emergency responders how to deal with hazardous material situations for the past decade. He was attending a training seminar in Chicago before arriving in Mercer County to teach haz-mat classes.

“All of them came here on a weekend in Spring because they wanted to improve their abilities to serve their communities,” Trump said. “As a firefighter, you have to remain focused at all times. I know I’m noticing things even when I’m not in uniform or on the job. The public knows what we do on the job, but I don’t think they see the kind of focus we maintain in everything we do in life.”

Trump said that training for addressing haz-mat situations is always changing. “Laboratories and scientists are developing new chemicals and compounds all the time,” he said. “But even with the new stuff we’re seeing today, we’re better equipped now than we have been in the past.” He said that emergency responders have tents, containment equipment and other equipment that help make handling hazardous materials safer.

Mark Johnson, 20, a member of the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department, is also a student at Mountain State University where he is studying fire sciences. “The program goes into topics like arson investigation and how to deal with fires in order to save lives,” Johnson said. Johnson said he receives college credit for attending the training session in Mercer County, but he added that he also gains insights into how to be a better firefighter.

Firefighters are not required by law to attend these kinds of training exercises every year,” Chief Shawn Vest of the Princeton Fire Department said. “This is the fourth year that we’ve hosted this training and it has grown each year.” The training session is sponsored by the Mercer County Firefighters’ Association, and combines classroom work at the Mercer County Technical Education Center with live exercises in vehicle extraction and fighting a propane fire at the county’s fire training center on South Maple Street in Princeton.

“We had about 30 firefighters come our first year, but by last year, the number attending jumped up to a little over 70,” Tim McPeak said. Emergency responders from nine Mercer County fire departments, the Princeton and Bluefield rescue squads, two McDowell County fire departments, and one fire department each from Summers, Fayette, Monroe and Wood counties participated in the training session.

“Most of our instructors are local,” Vest, who served as one of the coordinators said. “This is a RESA I class.” Other coordinators included John Casey and Sean Wyatt. We have it each year on the last weekend in March.” The training session started Friday evening and will conclude today.

McPeak said the association hopes to publicize the training weekend more in future years to continue building the program.

– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com