74 firefighters from 14 fire departments across Cherokee, Etowah, DeKalb and Jefferson Counties trained in the Alabama Fire College’s burn trailer last week. The training was sponsored by Cherokee County Fire Association, and the burn trailer was parked at Leesburg Fire Department.
According to Leesburg Fire Chief Jeremy Lee, Skipper Bailey from Anniston and Tim Crow from Altoona Fire Departments representing the fire college along with Rudy Rooks, regional coordinator for the fire college in addition to instructors from each respective department assisted in the training. The Fire College itself is based out of Tuscaloosa. Firefighters trained in search and rescue with smoke and experienced a live flashover effect.
This was a perfect opportunity for departments to get new firefighters into a burning situation that’s controlled.
Each firefighter that participated will receive a certificate from the fire college for four credit hours, and their departments will get credit for their ISO ratings.
Chief Lee said that he would like to extend his appreciation to the Arctic Snow in Leesburg for providing meals for firefighters, to Wal-Mart for the donation of water and to Heritage propane for providing fuel for the burn trailer.