Firefighters don’t just fight fires anymore.
The list of their job duties has grown and now thanks to funding from the fireworks safety fund their education will too.
Legislation signed by Lt. Governor Brian Calley aims to further educate and train Michigan firefighters.
Cadillac Fire Marshal, Anthony Wolff says it’s badly needed, “Before it was general firefighter training, and a few other things but what we’ve realized is the scope of a firefighters education is so much more broad now. It opens up a new world for training.”
Additional education will cover things such as Technical Rescue which trains fire fighters in saving people from confined spaces, sewers, towers, or dunes. This training is needed because as Wolff says, “Here in Cadillac we’ve got two lakes, we need to train our guys in ways that they can respond to incidents on those lakes.”
EMT training for those incidents involves certain tools, firefighter and paramedic Robert Verdi explains their importance, “Air way management we use BBMs for that, this actually can help us breath for the patient if they’re unresponsive or just assist their respirations if they’re having difficulty breathing or it’s pretty severe. So with the additional education we’ll be able to continue our funding and send our people to more classes and just allow us to progress further as a service.”
Fire Marshal Wolff says these tools and training will, in particular make a difference for communities that aren’t as big, “Especially for small volunteer agencies these funds can make the difference for them and training their personal.”
This new law lets the council use the funding available for training and allows the state Fire Marshall to deny any grant request that does not meet specific requirements.
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