As part of their ongoing training initiatives, Frankfort firefighters will enact their fourth mayday training at 9:00 p.m. next Monday night at the Frankfort Municipal Utilities billing office to practice for when a firefighter is down in a fire scene.According to Fire Chief John Kirby, two years ago Battalion Chief Jeff Cline requested to develop Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG) on mayday situations.
“Given his deep involvement in this initiative, Jeff is our point person for our mayday training events. This training is critically important in achieving our primary goal that each of our firefighters can go home at the end of their shift.
“A fire is stressful enough, but having one of our own down in that situation only compounds the stress and danger of our job, so training in a controlled environment is the most effective way to ensure our firefighters can handle both the reason we are called to a scene and the serious impact of something happening to one of our team members,” Kirby said.
According to Cline, Clinton County Central Dispatch plays a critically important role in every fire call, but even more so when a secondary emergency – a firefighter going down – happens at the scene.
“Our partners in Central Dispatch serve a vital role in helping us be as effective and efficient as we can be at every fire and rescue scene. Working in high-risk, high-consequence, often rushed conditions mean we need the best information competently and rapidly delivered about a scene so we can attack a fire and keep everyone as safe as possible in the process.
“A mayday situation ramps up the stakes in every way, so the more specific training we can do, the better equipped we will be if and when an actual mayday event happens,” Cline said. “Mayday trainings are part of our toolkit to give us the best chance of our valued firefighters returning to their loved ones having done their jobs well.”
Members of A Crew will enact the mayday training Monday night that will include a fire event combined with a firefighter being down.
Interested members of the community are invited to watch the training Monday night across the street from the Utilities’ billing office located at 16 North Main Street.
A couple of Westfield firefighters and some volunteers from around the country will attend the training.
Frankfort firefighters have held three mayday trainings in the past year and a half.