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by Stephen Dafoe
With many of the Morinville Fire Department’s calls being motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), it is important for the part-time, volunteer firefighters new and seasoned to hone their vehicle extrication skills.
“We service quite a few main thoroughfares,” said Fire Chief Brad Boddez, adding Highways 44, 28, 2 and 642 all fall within the department’s area of call. “All of those are fairly high-volume traffic areas. The number of accidents are increasing for sure. We try to keep up on our skills for extractions just because MVCs are a good part of our job.”
Honing those skills took place Sept. 30 when Boddez and his crews spent the evening at the department’s training facility on East Boundary Road learning the skills that could save someone’s life.
Boddez said the department had 18 students currently working towards their NFPA 10-01 certification, the first level of training required on the road to becoming a firefighter.
“One of the modules is vehicle extrication,” Boddez said, adding the practical training Sept. 30 came on top of two weeks of training on techniques.
Boddez said training is a key for a department that is made up of part-time firefighters. “The fact that we are part-time volunteers. We practice every week, and we make the most of every week’s practice because we don’t get to work on it every day,” he said. “The Wednesday nights that we are here, we dedicate to that training. It is so important for us to keep up on our skills and provide that level of service to the community that we have been for the last 60 years.”
