The West Hartford Fire Department has received multiple grants for specialized training, including a program taking place this week on vehicle rescue.

By Ronni Newton

Firefighters require a diverse assortment of skills beyond extinguishing fires, and are often called upon to extract people trapped in vehicles following a crash.

The week of Jan. 8, 16 members of the West Hartford Fire Department were involved in an important hands-on training program run by the Connecticut Fire Academy that is one of the steps to certification to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) standard for vehicle rescue. Following the five-day practical training and testing held at the drill tower on Brixton Street, there will be a written exam that the participants will need to pass before receiving the certification.

“The class gives the West Hartford Fire Department members the skills and knowledge of how to handle vehicles of any size that may be involved in an accident so that the occupants can be safely and expeditiously extricated,” said Deputy Chief Eric Munsell, who leads the department’s Training and Support Services Division. “The firefighters will perform the skills of scene size-up, stabilization, extrication, and hazard control for all styles of vehicle from regular passenger cars to a school bus. They get to practice using various tools like grip-hoists, chains, hydraulic cutters, spreaders, or rams, and struts.”

This class was the final program funded through a $350,000 FEMA Assistance to Firefighters. Grant (AFG) that West Hartford received in 2020.

Munsell said that grant provided the opportunity for members to participate in many “significant and impactful” training exercises, including “leadership, command, fire ground safety, and other important knowledge and skills for officers.”

The grant also funded rope rescue training events utilizing various types of rope systems and special techniques, Munsell said, as well as a “train the trainer” instructor class that taught firefighters how to instruct their peers and other adult learners.

“All of these classes took a fair amount of work from the WHFD staff and other agencies often helped out,” Munsell said, adding his thanks to those agencies. The vehicle extrication class received assistance from Central Auto Group in Hartford which provided vehicles that participants could cut up and practice on.

“The town’s Department of Public Works also assisted us various ways, namely providing heavy equipment operators to move the cars and crush them so we could simulate real ‘crashed’ vehicles,” said Munsell. “They of course helped remove the snow that covered the drill ground on the first day of outside exercises, too.” The town’s Office of Emergency Management also supported the training with “shelter, warmth, and much-needed coffee and water during the cold days.”

Munsell said obtaining the hands-on experience in training is critical, and gives members the opportunity to learn to use various tools and develop the skills to best serve the public “in their time of need,” which can include many different types of dangerous situations.

The West Hartford Fire Department recently received another AFG grant, totalling $365,745, in partnership with the New Britain Fire Department. The first program under that grant took place the second week in December, and was called “Man vs. Machine,” Munsell said. It was held at Station No. 3 as well as the garage space at 705 Oakwood Avenue, which is across the street from the Department of Public Works complex and is one of the buildings recently purchased from Cunningham Brothers Realty LLC for town use.

Munsell said the “Man vs. Machine” class was run by a company called PL Vulcan, and taught by firefighters from various departments who have extensive experience in technical rescue work. The one-day class was offered four times to members of both the West Hartford and New Britain fire departments, and provided training for 32 members from each department in the use of a variety of tools and techniques to help free victims who become entangled in some sort of machine or entrapment.

“The members used many tools from small cutting tools like a Dremel tool all the way up to a Petrogen torch that uses gasoline and oxygen to cut thick pieces of metal,” Munsell said.

The Department of Public Works also provided assistance, as did representatives from New Britain.

Upcoming programs through the latest grant will also include confined space rescue training for a total of 32 members from the two departments. Those classes will be taught this spring and in the spring of 2025, Munsell said.

“This class and the upcoming classes not only offer quality learning opportunities for our members but also allows for the good collaboration with our neighbors to west. New Britain and West Hartford will on occasion assist each other when there are significant emergencies that require mutual aid. This helps the two departments continue a solid and productive relationship,” Munsell said.

 

The West Hartford Fire Department is grateful to have space to conduct training programs in town – both the existing drill ground as well as other facilities currently being used, such as the vacant 705 Oakwood property, which Munsell said has been a valuable training space. The Oakwood property is slated to become the new site of the Animal Control facility, and Bob Palmer, director of Plant and Facilities Services, told the Town Council’s Public Works, Facilities, and Sustainability Committee last week that an overall review of the police and fire department facilities is underway.

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