21 volunteers complete fire training course

The north Jefferson County area now has 21 newly-qualified volunteer firefighters.

A Volunteer Firefighter 160 certification course just ended at Mt. Olive Fire Department (MOFD).

Miles Cousins, a captain in the department, was the trainer for the course, which took place three nights a week for four months. In addition, the firefighters attended a 40-hour medical responder course, taught by MOFD Battalion Chief Chris Gamble.

“It takes a lot of

dedication for these guys to come and go through the school,” Cousins said. “They don’t get paid for it. It’s tough for them.”

Each participant paid $50 for course materials.

“The fire departments in our area are mostly volunteer-based,” Cousins said, adding that joint-department training courses help firefighters get to know other people in other departments. He said that is useful when they work together on mutual-aid emergency calls.

Attending the course were 12 Mt. Olive firefighters and four from Kimberly Fire and Rescue, four from the Warrior Fire Department and one from the Center Point Fire Department.

Besides learning medical procedures in the first responder course, the firefighters learned how to use their personal protection equipment, how to use fire hoses and load hoses onto trucks, how to do extrications from vehicles, fire suppression, using ladders, managing hazardous materials, and terrorism awareness.

Paid, full-time firefighters are required by state law to go through a minimum-standards school within 12 months of being hired, according to Larry Jarvis, Alabama Fire College and Personnel Standards Commission Central Region director.

The state does not require volunteers to receive training, Jarvis said.

Some fire departments or fire districts, however, do require volunteers to complete the Volunteer Firefighter 160 certification.

“That gets the volunteer a national certificate,” Jarvis said. “Then they are recognized nationally as a Firefighter 1.”

Jarvis said the course meets the National Fire Protection Association 1001 standard.

“That standard says what a Firefighter 1 should know,” said Jarvis. “Without a doubt, it’s the training (volunteers) should have to be functioning as firefighters.”