NOVEMBER – Forcible Entry and working with the maze at the Erie County Training Tower.
OCTOBER – Car Fires – Vigilant had a great time at the Erie County Training Tower. It was a beneficial training to run scenarios with the knowledge of the instructors giving great pointers throughout the event.
OCTOBER – EMS Drill – PLEASE NOTE: Vigilant tries to create realistic scenarios to train our personnel with, in doing so, sometimes we may have graphic images, which may be disturbing to some even though they are “fake” or “made up”.
With winter months coming, members trained for snow emergencies. DO NOT PUT HANDS into snowblowers! Use a stick, especially when heavy wet snow gunks up your snowblower. Even though you may have shut off the machine, once you dislodge the item, the auger may still turn. (graphic photos)
You can lubricate the snowblower with Pam or a Non-Stick Spray to coat the scute and auger before the first use of the season to help with sticking or clumping.
OCTOBER – Hydrant hook up and new techniques on hose advancement.
SEPTEMBER: Table Top Exercises. Learning location, resources and staging of apparatus on various calls.
AUGUST: Hose Advancement. Working with the hose line, advancing through obstacles and practice pump operations.
AUGUST: This month we did Firefighter Skills Assessments. Similar to when we perform EMT Skills Assessments, this involved various firefighting techniques. Two Engines performing the same roles but at different times 1/2 way through, the teams switch Engines and continue to the last 2 evolution’s. Proper PPE must be used, proper positioning of Engine, team work and safety during “emergency” situations are all key points in firefighting.
Evolution 1 – Pump Ops, Hose Advancement. BOWLING
Evolution 2 – Driver Training. One driver goes around an optical course performing various EVOC skills, another driver switches places with 1st driver and performs another series of EVOC skills.
Evolution 3 – Ladders
Evolution 4 – Patient Extrication – No one took pictures.
JULY: Tandem Pumping. We practiced the procedure on using two engines to maximize available water supply. Practice for new pump op personnel, new members and pump op refresher for older members. Engine 1 began water flow as you normally would have for the first Engine on a scene of a fire. Engine 2 came shortly after to established water supply from hydrant and fed Engine 1 to fill their tank and maintain water throughout the “event”.
JULY: Each month we review EMS skills. We pick a topic; such as Patient Assessment, Fractures, Sports Injuries or “Cardiac Arrest” calls, where we practice how to take care of that type of patient. This week, we practiced how to take care of a person who went into sudden Cardiac Arrest. What to do from the initial call, to how to load the patient into the ambulance. If you are interested in learning CPR, please contact your local fire department or the Red Cross to sign up for a class!
West Seneca Fire District #6 (Vigilant) takes great pride in our continued training throughout the year on various topics to keep up on all the changes within the fire and EMS world. Drills are conducted Wednesdays throughout the month.
JUNE – Roof Ventilation and Search and Rescue
Vigilant Olympics. Teams have a friendly competition on hose advancement, wall breach, roof ventilation, patient carry, donning and doffing gear and new EMTs get to practice their skills on vitial signs during rehab.
THANK YOU to Jim Hamon and catholic Health for the Outstanding Drill with their new Mobile Simulation and Training Unit. We worked on multiple assessments on a wide variety of patient medical illnesses.
MAY – Various days of School Bus drills. THANK YOU to Montgomery’s for providing the school buses for us to drill on!
Awesome drill with Reserve Hose on Air bags and stabilization of vehicle. Thank you Reserve!
Auto Extrication Drill
MCI Drill – Multiple victim extrication, triage and patient treatment.
APRIL – Hose Test at Meyer Road. Checking all hose on the engines and making sure that all are working properly. Also practicing pump operations for some of our new pump personnel.
March – Practice working with tools.
FEBRUARY- Ladder Drill. Working with Ladders.
Cold Weather Emergencies & Rope Rescue along with Patient Care.
JANUARY – Aquired structure Drill with Winchester, Seneca Hose, Union Fire Departments. Practice with roof ventilation, search and rescue, forceable entry, ladders, etc.
