Taylor Fire Rescue hosting multiple training exercises for members

TAYLOR, B.C. — Taylor Fire Rescue (TFR) is conducting multiple training exercises for its members, including 1001 certification, first responder and hazmat training. 

John Hicks, deputy fire chief for the District of Taylor, said this training will enhance Taylor Fire Rescue’s members’ professional response capabilities. 

“As a volunteer squad, we can never guarantee when people will show up or how many,” Hicks said. 

“Our members have full-time jobs, some of them work overnight some days, so the more people we have with qualifications, the more we can round out our response. 

TFR currently has an ongoing 1001 certification, which is a professional firefighting qualification that all TFR members undergo. 

Hicks said, “We recently completed first responder training, so we have added three new first responders to our team to cover medical calls.” 

In addition, TFR has hazmat training scheduled for this fall, which is a requirement for the 1001 certificate. 

“We have a couple of members going through for fire suppression training…a pump operator course coming in September, which is improving our ability to provide drivers and people that can move water from the trucks,” Hicks added. 

He noted that two new duty officers are continuing fire officer training, and that all TRF officers are taking additional professional courses over the summer and fall. 

Hicks said that most of the other TFR training sessions have been scheduled for September and October. 

When asked what kind of emergencies TFR members will be trained to handle, he said, “They’ll be able to do internal fire suppression, structural fires, providing medical response, assisting with general response, pumping water for any type of fire scenario and just giving us more fully qualified firefighters.”

Hicks said that since TFR makes its own firefighters, people don’t need any special skills to apply to be a firefighter. 

“We do like people that have life skills, so people who are welders, plumbers, and those just working with their hands, we can make them firefighters, we can use their skills and apply them in different ways they probably didn’t even think were possible,” he said.