Thanks to an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from FEMA, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue is the proud owner of a brand new Mobile Fire Training Simulator. If you have visited the Forest Grove Library, or driven past the Fire Station lately, you have probably seen the training simulator where it's parked behind our building. You can't really miss the massive red trailer, and the smoke that comes from it when firefighters are training inside of it, and all of this is possible because of a $425,000 grant that came from the Federal Government.
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| FGF&R's new Mobile Fire Training Simulator |
Before the purchase of this trailer, Forest Grove firefighters relied on finding donated, and typically dilapidated, buildings to complete the firefighter training that is required by State of Oregon firefighter standards. Without a donated home or building to conduct this type of training, it can sometimes be a considerable amount of time before new volunteer firefighters receive the essential training that is required before they can respond as part of our crew. In recent years we have combated this challenge by sending firefighters to fire simulation centers at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, or the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Regional Training Center in Sherwood. Though these facilities offered us an exceptional training experience, the distance to them posed logistical problems for our crews and obviously costs involved with leaving our own city to training. Enter the Mobile Fire Simulator which will help us improve our volunteer firefighter program by providing a close and effective option to not only make sure that new firefighters are up to speed, but that veteran crews remain on top of the latest trends in firefighting tactics.
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| The furniture fire prop burns inside of the mobile fire training simulator |
The mobile fire trailer was purchased from the Kidde Company in Montvale, New Jersey, and was delivered to us this June. Kidde provided not only a well crafted piece of equipment, but they also sent a company representative to our Fire Station in order to coordinate the initial training for our firefighters. After that we we put the mobile trailer and it's propane powered fire props through it's paces as we tested it and learned the ins and outs of proper and safe operation. Local sign makers from Miracle Sign Company here in Forest Grove put decals and logos on the sides and it's now ready to go. You'll see it fired up on Monday evenings as Firefighters from Forest Grove and Cornelius enter one of a number of realistic training scenarios, and twice a year it can be used for the bi-annual volunteer firefighter training academies that all new volunteers in Washington County must go through. The mobile fire training simulator isn't limited to live fire training however, it has a number of features that will enhance our abilities to serve the community. Within the training simulator there is a forcible entry prop, a roof ventilation prop that is capable of altering the angle of the roof, search and rescue props, window rescue simulations, and confined space rescue training just to name a few. As part of the required match to the FEMA grant, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was responsible for 10% of the grant, so our share of the cost of this equipment was $42,500. Without the FEMA grant we simply would not have been able to afford this significant of a purchase, so we are extremely thankful to FEMA and it's supporters who have made this exciting new tool for our fire department possible.
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