University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, October 26. 1988
5
Glimpse
Performing a high tower rescue, Rick Stillwagon, Manhattan Fire Department, left, and Joe Ballard, story building. In a high tower rescue, the victim is put in a metal basket and lowered down the side of the Hutchinson Fire Department, right, lower Shawn Traffas, Reno County paramedic, down the side of a five building as the rescuers rappel with it to keep it level and from flipping over.
Courses let firefighters brush up on technique
TOPEKA — There is more to firefighting in the '80s than donning yellow flame retardant gear and sliding down the firepole every time an alarm goes off.
Terry Heyens, KU graduate and a firefighting instructor at last week's 98th Annual Fire School in Topeka, said it was much more complicated than that.
"Firefighters have to be chemists." Heynes said. "They have to be physicists; they have to understand hydraulic pressures; they have to know how to read. It's a lot different than it used to be."
Allan G. Walker, director of the Division of Continuing Education's fire service training at KU, said that the school offered 25 courses between Monday and Thursday last week to educate and, in some cases, retrain area firemen.
"The courses were designed to accommodate training needs for firemen from the rookie level to chief officers." Walker said.
Training was offered in the areas of fire prevention, detection, investigation, safety and specific techniques.
The school, sponsored by the fire service training at the University of Kansas, was free to the 523 Kansas firefighters who attended.
Classroom activities were conducted in the Ramada Inn Downtown, 420 E. Sixth St., and the Topeka Fire Department Training Academy, 324 Jefferson St. Some specialized hands-on training was offered at the Metropolitan Tooeila Airport Authority, Forbes Field
The Forbes Field class, the Essentials of Firefighting,
seemed to attract more interest than any of the others
seek to instruct others.
Heynes, who helped instruct the class, said, "This is the first time some of these men have seen a lot of fire. Others just need the experience."
Mike Rudd, class battalion chief, said that of the 322 students who attended the school, more than 100 were
enrolled in the essentials class.
The 16 instructors for the class worked with the firefighters in groups of 20-30. Each group worked with extinguisher, hoses, airpacks, small tools, ladders and other basic equipment while combatting fires caused by lions.
"Firefighters are a lot like a team of horses," he said. "They have to pull together. It, for some reason, they fall apart or turn, the flames can shoot right through them. Petroleum, for example, can expand up to 270 times its volume when it turns to vapor. That can make for one huge explosion."
liquids.
Kent Allison: Coffeyville firefighter and another class instructor, said that team work was imperative when dealing with liquid fires.
huge explosion.
Allison also said he was pleased that firemen from rural areas had attended the school. Firemen in less populated areas must work with limited water supplies.
This class teaches them how to use their water supply most effectively without becoming a statistic. "Allison
J胜利 Wight, coordinator for the school, said that most of the instructors had volunteered or were sent by the Kansas State Firefighters Association. Students either were sent by their department or came voluntarily.
were seen by their departing. Although the classes were free, Wight said, the students were responsible for their own travel, food and lodging.
Story by Craig Welch Photos by David Brandt
"The fact that many of these people spent hundreds of dollars to get here and attend these classes really says a lot for them," she said. "Some of them are volunteer firefighters who had to use vacation time from their regular jobs in order to participate."
tries summarized the need for continual training.
"You see, freightling is just like everything else. If you do
anything that is freightling, it has to be done."
equal work is required for continual training.
Heynes summarized the need for continual training.
Explaining the essentials of a high-tower rescue, instructor Mark Baker, Wichita, tells the class how to rig a single-stoke stoken basket. This allows only one firefighter to rappе with the basket.
Practicing a one-man high-tower fire, Ron Householter, Salina fire department, rappels down with the stokes basket as other class members help lower him down the building.