Last Updated on August 20, 2021 by Cass County Firefighters Association
Logansport, IN – Visitors to downtown Logansport Thursday night may have noticed flashing emergency lights and even a medical helicopter. Fortunately, there was no emergency.
This was the bimonthly meeting of the Cass County Firefighters Association, a non-profit organization formed to promote cooperation and education among Cass County Fire Departments. All firefighters in Cass County, and other responders, are invited to participate in their programs.
For this month’s meeting, Lutheran Air brought in a helicopter and did a landing zone operations course. The training lasted for about two hours and covered topics such as helicopter structure and components, hazards of working around helicopters, establishing landing zones, and dealing with the stress of responding to traumatic injuries and events. Firefighters practices “cold loads,” or moving patients to the helicopter while it was shut down, as well as “hot loads” or moving patients to the helicopter while it is operating and blades are spinning.
Rocky Buffum, President of the Cass County Firefighters Association, thanked those who participated as well as those who made the training possible. “It is great to see almost every department in the county come together for training.” Buffum also thanked Lutheran Air and those who helped make connections behind the scene. “The Indiana Department of Homeland Security Emergency Medical Services District Manager helped get the helicopter here, Logansport Fire Department provided the training room and Cass County Commissioners provided the use of the parking lot adjacent to the fire station. It was a full community effort to make this possible.”
Agencies participating in this training included:
Cass County Emergency Management Agency
Cass County Fire District 1
Clymers Fire Department
Galveston Fire Department
Logansport Fire Department
New Waverly Fire Department
Phoenix Paramedic Solutions
Royal Center Fire Department
Twelve Mile Fire Department
Walton Community Fire Department
Young America Fire Department
About 24 responders participated.