CONCORD – Concord Fire premiered two new training devices Friday which will both help the community as well as the department itself.
After applying for a special grant in February 2019, the fire department was happy to learn it would be given a special Rail Car Prop by the state. Separately, they also added a new Lion Attack System, both of which are very unique.
Concord Fire was one of just a few departments to receive a grant from the state’s division of emergency management to use the Rail Car Prop which will make training a lot easier as well as more efficient.
“It’s great for us to get that recognition and for them to see the need for us and our HAZMAT team here and how that would truly benefit our team,” Emergency Management Coordinator Ian Crane said.
This device will allow the team to simulate the disposing of hazardous chemicals from a railway car remotely in a controlled environment. Before getting this prop, they would have to physically go out and practice on site which put them at the mercy of the weather conditions.
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Concord has a significant amount of railway in the city, so the need for a HAZMAT team to be ready for any incident is vital to the department. Crane said he has not had to send anyone out to deal with any railroad incidents in his time on the job, but he knows it will make them more than prepared for anything that happens.
“We’re all about being prepared for worse case,” Crane said.
While this training device offers something unique to Concord Fire, the other will have not only an overall effect on the community fire departments, but it will help out people individually as well.
The Lion Attack System is a device simulating the extinguishing of a fire. This can be utilized in several different ways, but the two with likely the most significance include firefighters putting out a simulated fire with a hose, and an everyday individual putting one out with an extinguisher.
Equipped with an infrared nozzle, the system is entirely digital with the exception of the smoke which is used to help simulate the situation. Absolutely no fire is present and no water is used which makes training much more convenient both for the fire department as well as for those simply needing training for a job requirement.
“For daycares they have to set yearly training,” deputy fire marshal Brad Hunt said. “So last evening I was at a daycare facility and we did this training and they’re able to do the hands-on training but it’s not dependent on the weather, there’s no cleanup.
“If we do the live-fire training then they would be using a real extinguisher and there’s that whitish, yellowish powder that gets everywhere. So with this you don’t have any of that issue, and we’re actually able to go into the school systems and teach cooking classes, culinary classes and teach fire extinguisher safety that way.”
The $22,000 system will also allow the department to simulate even larger fires for training of firefighters. While the equipment they showed off Friday was on the smaller side, it can actually be added on to and stacked up higher or even put on a ceiling so they can simulate a larger, growing flame.
Individuals in the community will also have chances to use the system as the department is setting up an event in April which will allow anyone to try it out. The date for the event is yet to be determined.
“We’re trying to get out to broader venues, to public venues, so people can come up and we can teach this class,” Hunt said. “For what I just did with the news media, we taught how to use a fire extinguisher in just a couple minutes. So we can get the message out to a larger number of people.”