| Every firefighter is familiar or has at least heard of the term "Mayday". Unfortunately, how many firefighters are actually properly trained in Mayday procedures and when to call it? Few, if none. It is not taught in ANY basic firefighting course. In the past couple of years, one man has been traveling the country teaching at national expos and seminars in regards to Mayday training. Last year, Chief 6A and Captain Patin were fortunate enough to assist Dr. Burton Clark in teaching Mayday procedures at the Fire Expo in Baltimore, MD. However, many departments (most departments) do not bring this training back home or do not continue to refresh in this training.
This month, the Huntingtown Volunteers acquired one of many structures. One particular structure is an abandoned two-story commercial building located on Route 4. Yesterday, Dr. Clark met in Huntingtown to assist our officers in teaching this training to all of our members. Huntingtown VFD requires annual CPR, AED, and fit testing each year and now has mandated Mayday training for all firefighters every year. No other department in the County has done this and only a HANDFUL of volunteer departments in the COUNTRY have accomplished this task. This is truly remarkable. Last night over 30 volunteers, staffed every piece of equipment and headed to the drill house to conduct several Mayday tasks. The structure has been retrofitted by our firefighters to disorient and challenge all of our firefighters. The drill began at 1800 hours and did not conclude until after 2200 hours. This is the 1st part of the drill. The next two Thursdays of this month will be the same type of drill.
Many thanks to Dr. Clark, the officers of Huntingtown, and all the members that participated in the dril last night!
For more info on Dr. Clark's articles visit:
1. http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=32431§ionId=10
2. http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=45292§ionId=40
If you are interested in attending the next two-day Mayday training at the Fire Expo July 25-30, visit: http://www.publicsafetyevents.com/pub/fhe/edu_handson_wed.po;jsessionid=W3Wlu1xu69P082NH-xVw0T6a(0DBpkhPl) . As of June 6th, there were still 21 vacancies in this class. |
