Volunteers sought for large fire training

Phillips County, along with the Division of Fire Prevention and Control, is attempting to utilize the Holyoke airport as a water refill station for Single Engine Air Tankers in the event of a large fire requiring State assistance. In order to accomplish this, volunteers are needed to attend a half day training and be willing to be contacted in the event the State is providing aircraft to assist with a local fire. Volunteers would be asked to respond to the airport and assist with filling aircraft with water.

The SEAT reload training is hands-on training with the aircraft, where individuals learn how to refill the aircraft. Also, attendees will be exposed to some basic communication opportunities with the aircraft that mirror communications on an incident. When the aircraft arrives and leaves for the day some individuals will have the opportunity to direct water drops.

The intended audience for the SEAT refill training is any person that can use to open the SEAT base in Holyoke with the intent to fill the aircraft with water. Only people that take this training will be authorized to fill the aircraft when needed. Attendees for the SEAT reload training do not need to be members of the fire department.

Participants will be placed on a list and contacted in the event the State is providing aircraft support for a fire and volunteers are needed to help refill the aircraft with water. Per DFPC, 15 volunteers are needed to attend the training in order for the Holyoke Airport to be utilized as a refill station. This would be a major benefit to the County by dramatically reducing refill times by preventing the need for aircraft to travel to a distant airport to refill.

Training dates available are March 18- 19 and April 29-30. These dates are subject to weather and fire activity. Volunteer head count is needed by Feb. 10.

For more information or to register as a volunteer, contact Phillips County Emergency Manager Broc Pelle at (970) 571-3203, (970) 854-3778 or [email protected].