CENTERBURG — There were teachers, students, community members and lots of food at a different kind of June graduation ceremony just outside of Centerburg on Saturday. There were also lots of flames and smoke to mark the occasion.
Under the watchful eyes of over 30 instructors and professional firefighters, a “graduation fire,” involving the burning of a large farmhouse donated by the Centerburg United Methodist Church, was held.
The house has been the scene for months of training, involving several fire departments as well as the Knox County Career Center students who were a part of Saturday’s training. The 10 students who successfully finished the training have now completed the 240 hours of coursework and training necessary to sit for the state exam for the Ohio Firefighter II card. They will take their KCCC final exam and state exam later this month.
Lt. Mike Ullom of the Westerville Fire Department, who is also a Hartford Fire Department volunteer, served as incident commander, overseeing the training along with Lt. Mark McCann of the Washington Township Fire Department.
McCann, a KCCC fire instructor, said that having over 30 instructors and fire personnel on scene besides the 10 students, ensured that crews could be rotated out regularly because the day’s heat and humidity made the temperatures inside the large structure fire even more dangerous to firefighters.
Ullom explained that having at least two experienced instructors for each student would mean that all the participants would be safer.
“We will overwhelm the safety factor,” Ullom said. “It’s better to over-safety it.”
“We want this to be an educational experience,” said Central Ohio Joint Fire District Chief Joe Porter, who oversaw fire operations during the training. “We want no one to get hurt.”
Ullom said a short prayer with the group asking for protection and safety, and instructor Marianne Helphrey told the group what a great job they had done so far, and that the instructors were proud of the students’ hard work.
While fires were started in different rooms in the house, crews of four or five, with at least two instructors in each group, entered the house to attack the fire.
In an upstairs room, a group of safety officers was always present. Known as “lighters,” these instructors set the fires in different rooms using pallets and straw lit with flares, and then remained in the upstairs “safe” room in case something should go wrong.
As crews rotated out, they were immediately taken to a rehab area, where COJFD firefighter/medic Joe Herren coordinated several volunteer EMS workers who checked the firefighters’ vital signs, and monitored them carefully for heat exhaustion and dehydration. Firefighters whose blood pressure or pulse were too high, or who were dehydrated, were not allowed back into the training until they were cleared medically.
COJFD Lt. Jason Whipple coordinated information between personnel at the fire, and made sure volunteers and civilians stayed out of harm’s way. Whipple said the exercise showed great teamwork between departments.
Helphrey said that whenever she requests help from local departments with training exercises, the response is overwhelmingly supportive. She believes that is one of the reasons the career center’s firefighting students go on to make excellent firefighters.
Knox County American Red Cross volunteers provided the firefighters with cold drinks and snacks throughout the day, as well as a place to sit out of the sun. Executive Director Dan Werner said the training fire was the first he had been on since taking over as director in January.
Lunch provided by the Methodist church kept the dozens of firefighters well fed.
Mount Vernon Fire Chief Shawn Christy handled the accountability board for the exercise, making sure that the name and crew number of each firefighter, student and instructor who entered or left the building was carefully marked on a large dry erase board.
Helphrey said the success of the day’s training was due to the students’ hard work, and the dedication of the instructors. Personnel from departments all over central Ohio, including Columbus, Westerville, Hartford and Utica, took part.
Concord Township firefighter Keith Ernsberger, who also volunteers with the Marengo Department, said he was there to help the firefighting students, as more experienced firefighters had done for him years ago.
“When I was in fire school, people did this for me. I’m here just to help the students learn, and to give back my part,” he said.
The students, who have been working as firefighters with their Firefighter I card during their extended training, appreciated the help from the many other instructors and firefighters.
“There’s so many different learning curves that each instructor can teach you,” Fredericktown firefighter Cody Cline, one of the KCCC Firefighter II students, explained. “The advantage to having over 30 instructors here, is that they’re each going to bring different experiences to the training. And with the different chiefs here, you get to see how different chiefs run a fire.”
Students Josh Campbell, who has volunteered for the Loudonville Fire Department since 2003, and Dana Phillips, who has been with the Utica department for a year, discussed some of what they had learned during the day’s exercises after the fire.
“We learned a lot about smoke reading,” Phillips said. “How to tell the different stages of the fire by the color of the smoke,” he added.
Campbell described the lessons they’d received about a fire’s flash-over point, and described the “fingertips of the fire” rolling in the house.
Maryann Township volunteer firefighter Nickie Callis looked forward to talking with her family about the training. The mother of two boys, Callis has volunteered as a firefighter/medic for five years. She said the KCCC class has prepared her for future firefighting.
“This is one of the best classes I’ve ever done,” she said.
The students impressed their instructors as well.
“I think they learned a lot and did a fine job,” said instructor Dave Miller, a COJFD lieutenant. “They were all experienced firefighters to begin with. Watching them today, I’d go in and fight a fire with them.”
“They were excellent,” Ullom said of the students after the final fire had nearly burned to the ground. “It was a nice set of teamwork we had. I’d take any of them in a fire with me after this. This class is stellar. Absolutely stellar.”
