By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
For all appearances, it looked like a three-alarm fire was underway on Wednesday night, June 3, at a home on Pioneer St. in Logandale. Just about every firefighting vehicle in the Moapa Valley Fire District (MVFD) fleet was gathered at the site at 6 pm, ready for action.
But there was no fire…at least, not yet.
About 26 new volunteer recruits, and even a few of the more seasoned MVFD members, were there to receive training.
Firefighters spent the evening taking turns through various training modules.
One group was working along the street at establishing water supply from the fire hydrant there.
Another group received training on setting ladders properly to climb to upper floors and roof of the multi-level home.
Others put on full firefighting gear and entered the home in a simulated search of a trapped resident or a downed firefighter. This drill was made more difficult by them having their masks covered. Unable to see, they were required to feel their way along, in a simulation of navigating the interior of a smoke-filled house.
This Firefighter I training module is the first of its kind held locally since the district broke ties with Clark County Fire Department and became an independent entity last year.
The weekly course, which began last month, takes new firefighters through a rigorous 16 weeks of grueling exercises to prepare them to fight all kinds of fires and even enter burning buildings if needed. It is the same training received by paid firefighters in the city.
MVFD Chief Steve Neel said that recent changes to the district, including being able to offer the training locally, had contributed to one of the largest classes of recruits the district has seen in years.
“I’m so proud of this group of volunteer firefighters,” Neel said on Wednesday night. “They are working hard and doing all that is asked of them. They will be one of the best trained volunteer forces out there!”
Neel explained that for years, local volunteers have had to travel to Las Vegas to receive this level of training. Firefighter I training used to be concentrated into four full weekends, Neel said.
“Our new recruits used to have to give up a whole month of their weekends to get this training,” Neel said. “That was one of the things that made it really hard for people to volunteer. Now that we are an independent entity, we can put on our own training modules here at home. That makes things easier.”
But while the local training is more convenient it is no less rigorous for the firefighters. In fact, this particular training features an element that isn’t usually available to Firefighter I trainees: a real house to train in.
The house at 2895 Pioneer Street is owned by Gary and Melanie Robison. They are preparing to demolish the old home and rebuild on the site. But before they do, the couple decided to offer this multi-level structure to the local fire district to use for training. That even includes the ultimate training exercise of a live burn which will take place later this month.
“Usually in this kind of training we use a burn trailer that is brought out where we just simulate a house fire on a small scale,” Neel said. “It’s not very often that we can do a live burn and do that training in an actual home.”
