City of Bloomington Fire Department, Training Tower Take Center Stage As Training School Comes To Town

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2008

For more information, please contact:
Daniel Lopez, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-CITY, lopezd@bloomington.in.gov



[Bloomington Fire Department training at the Fire Training Tower|image:2969,right]Bloomington, IN - The City of Bloomington Fire Department (BFD) has been making great use of its Fire Training Tower that was constructed last fall, conducting live simulations for its officers and new recruits in a push to enhance life-saving skills and firefighting techniques.

Now the department is using the facility in collaboration with the Indiana Fire Instructor's Association to host the City's first ever Bloomington School of Fire and Emergency Services, a two-weekend workshop bringing together more than 260 firefighters and instructors from across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The first piece of the seminar will take place from May 30-June 1 while the second will run from June 6-8, and classes will be interspersed with training exercises throughout both sessions. Bloomington Fire officials are excited about the high registration numbers and suggest that the concept of the school has been made reality thanks in large part to the presence of the training tower.

"We are incredibly excited that we're able to host this very important training workshop," said Battalion Chief of Training Rob Stumpf, who oversees training programs for the BFD. "The interest this has generated from all over the state is immense, and it's particularly surprising since this is our very first year hosting this event. We're hoping to drive participation numbers even higher next year, and with the Tower here I can definitely see us becoming the region's foremost firefighter training center."

Stumpf also pointed out that many established fire schools of this kind often struggle to reach similar registration numbers and insisted that there is much room for continued growth of the program.

"It's amazing that we're able to play host to an event of this size, and we hope to grow this school to 400-500 firefighters in the future," Stumpf said.

The workshop begins with several classroom lectures on Friday evening and moves into training exercises on Saturday and Sunday. Locations throughout Bloomington will serve as sites for the simulations, with the idea being to provide realistic settings at which firefighters must deal with a myriad of circumstances. BFD will be preparing areas like the Fire Training Tower, Griffy Lake Dam, Ivy Tech and the IU Memorial Stadium to be used over the course of the two weekends, and participants will be presented with techniques through which to deal with the various scenarios. Instructors will be coming from all over Indiana and surrounding states, bringing different approaches and infusing the BFD and other participating departments with new firefighting methods.

Also significant is the economic impact the school is sure to have, both in the short and long terms. Bloomington is already considered by many across the state a destination for those hoping to enjoy nature as well as the arts, and the spurring of programs of this sort will continue the responsible growth of the city and encourage visitors to enjoy all the community has to offer. With almost three hundred participants descending upon Bloomington for two consecutive weekends, local restaurants, hotels and attractions are sure to reap the benefits.

"These are the types of local activities that we want to be promoting across the state," said City of Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan. "We have invested in our infrastructure and amenities in part to encourage events such as this, and we're both proud to be hosting it and eager to see it grow."

Updates on this event will be available soon at www.bloomington.in.gov. Please check the website next week for further details, photos and testimonials from the Training School.

Check out photos of the Fire Training Tower in use [here.|https://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=2787;]
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