My first husband was a volunteer fireman.  He spent many years with the local department while on active duty with the US Marine Corps.  During those years he recieved a lot of training which then allowed him to find work in the civilian community in the fire and rescue services.  Now he has the best of both worlds--he is living in Alaska and working as a Civilian contractor for the military in some sort of emergency management capacity.  We don't keep in touch so I don't know the specifics of his current job, but I do know that the training he got as a volunteer firefighter led him eventually to this "dream job".

I learned a lot about the training as he participated over the years.  There were tapes to watch,  practice burns where they would torch an old car or abandoned building, and trips to Bethesda, Maryland for specialized training.  All that training is expensive, and he didn't have to pay a cent for it.  In that way he was certainly blessed.

I know not all fire departments have this training luxury.  They need it just as much as the next town or big city.  I was browsing online and found this cool training system.  It's a whole set of reusable equipment in trailers.  The department (or company or whatever) purchases this trailer that is all set up for training in whatever you want--from car fires to urban search and rescue.  It's powered by propane but simulates an environment the crew would be facing.  It can be set up as a tow-behind trailer or they can install the equipment in a fixed area. There are lots of options to add to the basic package--things like an expansion to make it swo stories or even something simpler like more storage.  There are several different choices of equipent and scenarios, and software to teach disaster management.

A company called Fireblast 451 sells and supports these training modules for any size fire crew.  I had never heard of a fire department training company before.  The website has video and lots of photographs and information on all of thier products but what I found most compelling was a list of recent sales.  Groups that had recently taken delivery of some of the Fireblast 451 products were listed with photos of thier new equipment.  There were the expected small town and rural departments of course, but there were also listings for the US Navy and US Airforce along with major cities like Oceanside, California, Yonkers, New York, and Pheonix, Arizona.  It certainly looks like departments put a lot of trust in the F451 systems. 

I also know that stuff is expensive.  The technology and the hardware don't come cheap.  To be honest, thier website doesn't say how much these things run.  I'm sure most departments would have to do fund raisers.  Perhaps I will conact this company and offer to work for them teaching thier new clients fundraising ideas! It would be a nice add on service.  However, also on the main page of the company website is a link to something called the Assistance to Firefighters Grant.  This is a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant available to organizations to help pay for training and equipment.  Fireblast 451 provides service and product for many groups who have gotten this grant.

It is my sincere hope that the folks who work in the fire service know about both this company and the grants.  How wonderful it would be if every fire service had what they need for adequate training.