Ripley-Huron Fire Department hosts hazardous materials training

By: Liz Dadson April 8, 2016 1944

Ripley-Huron Fire Department hosts hazardous materials training

The Ripley-Huron Fire Department hosted the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 472 – Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations level certification training program in Ripley, March 15-20.

Fire chief Chris Cleave said that in addition to the 15 Ripley-Huron firefighters, the event welcomed first responders from the Municipality of South Bruce, Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula and the City of Toronto Police Services.

“The purpose of this course is to ensure that emergency response personnel, who may be first on scene to hazardous materials emergencies are properly trained," said Cleave who was one of the instructors. "First responders at the awareness level are expected to recognize the presence of hazardous materials, protect themselves, secure the area and call for higher trained personnel.

"At the operations level, the first responder uses the knowledge gained from this training to act in a defensive manner to protect people, the environment, or property from the effects of an unplanned hazardous materials release.

"It was a fantastic course and everybody really enjoyed this experience. It was great being able to have members from neighbouring fire departments and other agencies attend as well as our own.”

For the Ripley firefighters, this program is also a component of their ongoing NFPA 1001 Firefighter Level 1 and 2 certification program.

Each member who participated, also wrote the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications or “ProBoard” examination which is recognized by the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshall and Emergency Management as one of two fire service training certification entities. All of the participants were successful in both their written and practical examinations and each member has achieved “ProBoard” certification for both the Hazardous Materials First Responder Awareness and Operations Levels.