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Cass County welcomes new fire instructors

Last Updated on June 3, 2022 by Cass County Emergency Management Agency

LOGANSPORT, IN  —  Cass County will soon have seven new fire instructors available to offer public safety course offerings. Over the last five weeks instructor candidates from multiple area departments participated in training offered thru the Cass County Emergency Management Agency. This training included instruction on how to organize and present training, where to find resources to conduct training programs, and practice teaching where students presented assigned fire and emergency services topics to instructors and their peers.

The need for this training was identified in conversation with members of the Cass County Firefighters Association. Rocky Buffum, Cass County EMA Director, asked members of area fire departments what needs their departments had that EMA could potentially assist with.

“Training has been a huge need. During COVID many training programs were scaled back or shut down all together. Also over the past few years the state fire training has reorganized and there have been far less certification programs across the entire region. There is a backlog of individuals who want to obtain certification and help their communities, but they have been unable to find a class to get into.”

EMA was able to pull together the personnel and resources to make the Instructor certification program available at no cost to the area departments.

“The course met in the evening to make it more accessible to the volunteer agencies, which cover the majority of the landmass of Cass County. In the end we had 7 of 11 students make it to the end to take the state test, which places additional instructors at 6 of the counties 11 fire departments.”

Buffum further noted it was not an easy course, and a significant amount of outside time was needed to work on required projects and prepare for presentations.

The path to putting on the program was not without difficulty.

“We had some bumps in the road along the way. The State Fire Training Office committed to providing books, and then a week out told us they couldn’t follow thru. Thankfully others stepped forward to provide support so we could still move forward. Specifically, a grant from the Duke Energy Foundation helped to cover the cost of this program as well as other programs coming up later in the year.”

EMA congratulates the new instructors on their success and is excited to see what new opportunities they bring to their individual departments and the county.

Affiliations of students reaching the end of the course include Cass County EMA, Cass County Fire District 1, Galveston Fire Department, Logansport Fire Department, Harrison Township – Lucerne Fire Department, New Waverly Fire Department, and Walton Community Fire Department.

SOURCE: News release from Cass County Emergency Management Agency

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