Training Benefits Area Firefighters

The firefighting training by the Valley Event Center and fairgrounds parking lot last Saturday was put on by Safe-Fire LLC out of Wyoming.

Glasgow Fire Chief Brandon Brunelle told The Courier that the training was designed to teach firefighters how to deal with liquid- or gas-caused fires. It covered everything from residential propane BBQ fires, rail cars that travel through local communities every day, and large infrastructures that are already in placelocally – such as loading stations, gas compressor stations, and pipelines that carry product through the area.

"These events are what we refer to as a high risk low frequency event in our area and require special training to know how to deal with them when they occur due to the possible risk to a huge number of people," Brunelle said.

The chief said the cost of the training was $5,500 plus the cost of the 850 gallons of propane burned during the afternoon part of the class. Ezzie's Wholesale donated and delivered the propane. Agland co-op, MDU and WBI midstream also helped out financially.

"Without the help of these great businesses we would have never been able to have this class in our area, and we owe them all a huge thanks," Brunelle said.

The training involved firefighters from Malta, Wolf Point, Hindsdale, St. Marie, Fort Peck, Nashua, Valley County Long Run, and the Glasgow fire department. Other departments were also invited but were unable to attend do to scheduling conflicts.

A total of 38 firefighters took part in the training and are able to bring the info that they learned back to their respective departments.

"This training will have effects on hundreds of firefighters in our area," Brunelle said.

The class included four hours of classroom in the morning. After lunch they practiced fighting a propane tank fire and a simulated gas pipe flange fire, and then moved on to fight the tree that simulated a capped well head fire boasting over 1 million BTUs of heat. 

This is the second to last training that Safe- Fire LLC will put on in the United States due to lack of funding to be able to put on trainings like this one, Brunelle said. Federal, State, and local funds are drying up.