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August 2008 |
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County Solid Waste Department needs more money for gasoline and propane
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
Increased fuel, propane and natural gas prices are causing departments and offices within the county to find other sources for extra money to cover costs.
Last week, increases in diesel fuel, but largely propane, have contributed to the need for additional funding in the Solid Waste supplies budget, District Coordinator Dave Reichelderfer said. Reichelderfer is the latest county department administrator to request a budget transfer to address high fuel costs.
Reichelderfer requested $7,000 additional from his cost allocation budget, which is typically set aside for unanticipated operation costs, be moved to the Solid Waste fund supplies line item. Commissioners, who approved the change, said he is just one of several department administrators facing that situation mid-year. |
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Monday, 02 June 2008 |
W-G school serves as training site for FD
By KRISTIN REICHARDT
Assistant Managing Editor
WAYNESFIELD — The acrid stench of smoke lingered Sunday in the halls of the former Waynesfield-Goshen school building.
Debris from blackboards, pieces of ceramic tile floor and other scraps of building matter littered the floor, as smudged trails of soot and dust showed where hours earlier firefighters had crawled on their hands and knees through the smoke-filled rooms.
While the structure was never engulfed in flames, members of area fire departments used barrels of damp straw to simulate the thick smoke created by a fire in order to give firefighters search and rescue training in a large structure.
“A lot of times they will bring in the younger guys who have not been in the smoky environment,” said Albert Presnell, a training officer with the Wayne Township Fire Department. “A lot of times you can see how someone will react.”
Firefighters from the Buckland, Uniopolis, St. Johns, New Bremen, Westminster, Harrod, Lafeyette, Huntsville and Wayne Township fire departments — approximately 30 firefighters total — participated Sunday in the 3 1/2-hour training session.
Presnell said he was pleased with the day’s results, especially with the firefighters who were undergoing such supplemental training for the first time to enhance the 36 hours of training required for volunteer firefighters.
“When we were down here you couldn’t see anything,” Presnell said as he walked through the training course that wound beneath the elementary wing gymnasium, through classrooms and locker rooms scattered with furniture and other obstacles. “It was all smoke.”
He said many departments sent teams of three to five firefighters through the course at a time, searching for another firefighter who was acting as a victim.
The training enforced search and rescue skills such as learning to spread out, beginning with a firefighter anchored against a wall and others spreading toward the center of the room while connected to him in a type of chain.
They learned to look for any sources of light, such as windows and doors, to recognize potential exit routes.
The six to seven scenarios ran during the training included one where the firefighters’ air packs stopped working while they were in the middle of the course that took 8 to 12 minutes to complete.
“It would have been great if we could have had this for a week to really build it up into a house,” said Presnell, a 1983 Waynesfield-Goshen High School graduate. “But we’re thankful we got the chance to use it at all.”
The primary skill the officer and other firefighters said they sharpened is communication.
“It was fun listening to all the different guys,” Presnell said. “You’ll hear, ‘I have a door on my left,’ and it just goes right back from this guy to this guy to this guy. The communication chain, it’s very crucial.”
Travis Fogt, a firefighter in his second year with the Wayne Township Fire Department, said he learned how “not to panic,” such as when he lost air for a time.
“It’s as real a situation as you can get,” Fogt said, adding that it was good team-building exercise. “Just working as a department, keeping each other informed.”
Gina Zeigler compared Sunday’s training with training the Wayne Township Fire Department members competed earlier this year.
“We dramatically improved from then to now,” Zeigler said. “Our search techniques got better.
“In a building this size and in an area with a lot of twists and turns, with so much smoke, you really have to ask yourself and each other did we completely search this room? Did I completely search this room?” |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 June 2008 )
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