City of Bloomington Fire Department Stands Down For Safety

City of Bloomington Fire Department Stands Down For Safety

Date of Record: June 23, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2006

For additional information, contact:
Jeff Barlow, Chief, City of Bloomington Fire Department, 349-3894
Maria K. Heslin, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-3569


Bloomington, IN -- The City of Bloomington Fire Department (BFD) wraps up participation today in the International Firefighter Safety Stand Down activities. The focus of this year's Stand Down is to increase awareness of emergency vehicle safety, with particular emphasis on seatbelt use and safe driving through intersections.

From June 21-23, the BFD brought all of its on-duty personnel together for a training session focusing on firefighter safety and emergency vehicle response. It was led by Battalion Chief of Training Rob Stumpf and featured materials from the International Association of Firefighters, the U.S. Fire Administration and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

"We paid tribute to the 106 firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2005," said Fire Chief Jeff Barlow, "and focused on case studies of those events involving fire apparatus accidents with discussion of lessons learned to prevent future occurrences. We challenged our membership to take extra efforts to eliminate the potential for apparatus accidents."

The activities help celebrate June as Be Safe Bloomington, part of the Mayor's monthly Community Character campaign called Be Bloomington.