St. Elmo-Irvington Volunteer Fire Dept.

Dedicated to serving our community.

Training Blog

Pump Training and Water Supply

Running the pump on a fire apparatus can look very complicated when first learning. Tonight we reviewed basic practices for pumping, auxiliary suction, and water supply options when using the deck gun or ladder nozzle.


The pump panel on Rescue 21.

 
Using the deck gun on Rescue 21. This is one of our engines that holds 1000 gallons of water. Even 1000 gallons doesn’t last long when using the deck gun.

Practicing filling Ladder 20. The ladder truck only holds 400 gallons of water, so it needs to be connected to a water source when in use.

Ladder 20

We’ve spent the past few weeks making sure Ladder 20 is fully equipped with everything it needs to be put in service. Tonight our volunteers added more hoses, a generator, ventilation fan, pike poles, pry bars, flashlights and more!

 

It was all-hands-on-deck, we had a crew of 14 volunteers working together to get Ladder 20 ready to go.

 

*Update: Ladder 20 went in service soon after this night and has already responded to several fires.

Classroom Training

Not all of our training takes place outside. Many times you’ll find our firefighters in the training room going over scene safety, reviewing specific incidents, or listening to the Chief’s words of wisdom. This evening’s training was focused on using Emergency Reporting System (ERS).

Emergency Reporting System Using tablets
Entering incident reports on tablets.

 

We’re always looking for more volunteers, interested in joining us? We train the first, second, and third Thursday night of each month at 6:30pm. Come by and see us!

Aerial Training

Anyone who has been around a ladder truck (or aerial apparatus) knows there is way more to aerial training than just knowing how to drive it.

 

Our volunteers have given up numerous evenings and Saturdays learning the basics of proper positioning, watching for hazards, how to use the ladder, and how to pump.

 

This included 8+ hours of classroom training in addition to hands-on training.

While our training is on-going, all who participated have gained invaluable information and are better equipped for keeping the community safe.