| On Sunday, February 25th, 2007 seven members of the Westwood Fire Company participated in practical certification testing to achieve the level of Core General Rescue Requirements and Vehicle & Machinery Rescue Technicians by the standards set forth by the National Fire Protection Association.
This testing was a follow up to our Pennsylvania Department of Health Basic Rescue Practices course held over the Summer of 2006. Due to some other scheduling issues, this was the first weekend available for us to take the National Certification portion of the examination.
The original Basic Rescue Practices Course is a requirement to achieve Pennsylvania Department of Health Voluntary Rescue Service Recognition, which was a goal for our Company to reach. We recently successfully completed all of the requirements for recognition.
Executive Director Bob Grunmeier from the Bucks County Community College's Public Safety Training Center was our lead instructor for the original class. Chief Grunmeier advised us that we would be all but meeting the requirements to test out for National Rescue Certification. He suggested we incorporate both curriculums into one program which would allow us to test out. This was a pilot program that had not been yet attempted in Pennsylvania.
At the beginning of this weekend, we started with a practical and written review session to refresh our personnel with the procedures involved in the certification process. The review sessions were led by Instructors Hannon and McGinnis from the Bucks County Public Safety Training Center.
The certification process begins with a 75 question written test on Core General Rescue Requirements which involve various rescue protocols. The second portion of our certification is the the Vehicle & Machinery Rescue Technician level which is a 50 question written test.
Following the written testing conducted on Saturday, our group returned Sunday to take part in the practical testing evolutions. A total of 18 skill stations were required to be completed with a 100% grade in order to successfully get through the practical testing phase. The skill stations consisted of Resource Management, Incident Size Up, Managing Hazards, Victim Management & Gaining Access, Conducting a Search, Helicopter Ground Support, Incident Termination, Assessment, Stablization, and Packaging of a Victim, Medical Triage, Low Angle Rescue and Hand Off, Personal Protective Equipment and Rope Rescue Equipment Maintenance, Ropes and Riggings with 9 knots, Simple Mechanical Advantage Systems, Single Point Anchor Systems, Directing a Hauling Operation, Belay System Construction, Lowering System Construction, Directing a Lowering Operation, Belaying a Falling Load, Ropes and Riggings System Safety Checks, Scene Safety, Access and Disentangement Tools, and Patient Extrication.
All seven of our students successfully completed the practical testing phase and we will await the results of our written tests.
A special thank you goes out to Instructors Hannon and McGinnis for their time, patience, and knowledge to get us through this certification testing. In addition, we haven't forgotten all of the help that Executive Director Grunmeier has given our Company throughout the last year to help us meet our goals. All of these Chiefs have been a great asset to our learning process. Thanks also goes to our neighbors at the Modena Fire Company for the use of their rescue dummy to get us through the testing phase.
Congratulations to all personnel who put forth the time and effort to achieve this level of Rescue Certification over the busy weekend. |
