Catchup on Early Summer

April and May were pretty slow, but we did get a call for mutual aid for a barn fire from Oconee County, and we're always pleased to be able to support them. We got there in excellent time and were able to fill one of the knockers that was involved in suppression. It was Saturday June 7 in the early evening but still well above 90 degF, right in the middle of our week-long heat wave that saw two record highs broken. Many thanks to the volunteers who supplied water and gatorade!

Our Brian left that very day for Oregon, to commence his summer job in suppressing wildland fires in the northwest. He has a lot of experience in this, having spent time during the last couple of summers in North Carolina and training in south Georgia. He'll have photos that we hope to get and post in the next two months before he returns mid-August. I'll link to whatever website he may be posting his own writing to, and everyone should be keeping track of him!

Training sessions for the last few months have emphasized polishing for the most common sorts of demands that are made of us. Everyone who goes to calls and who has been issued PPE and equipment should be attending these. We're beginning to notice the difference between those who attend and those who don't - the latter don't know how to fit in, and the questions they ask are the ones we have addressed and prepared for in training! And we do want us all to be able to work together. Training is 6:30 on all Thursdays except the first one, unless otherwise noted and emailed. 911 always pages these out.

For the last month or so we've been concentrating on responses to vehicle accidents, something that we get called for fairly frequently. And we've been including the Oglethorpe County Firefighter Association Standard Operation Guidelines in this - the expectations that WVFD and OCFA has in firefighters who respond to a scene. Everyone who responds needs to know about this!

Any ideas or thoughts on training, comment to this post or email to Wayne. See you Thursday!