ATHOL — Anyone who thinks firefighters sit around playing cards, eating great firehouse chili, or catching a nap in between emergencies had better think again. Athol Fire Chief Joseph Guarnera, for example, makes sure members of his crew remain up to date on various firefighting and emergency response techniques and that requires extensive training.
“I’m a very progressive chief, as far as keeping everybody trained and at the top of their game,” Guarnera told the Athol Daily News. “We’ve got a great group of people here who are really apt into training, and we have a great training schedule.”
The chief said he believes it’s important the public understand just how much time and effort their firefighters — and their chief — invest in making sure they remain “at the top of their game.”
The training programs attended by members of the AFD include:
■Swift Water Rescue tech/instructor – Firefighters Andrew Bond and Ian Hogan;
■MSPCA Large Animal Rescue – Chief Guarnera, Capt. Eric Jack, FF Bond;
■Incident Response to Terrorism Bomb – Deputy Chief Jeffrey Parker and FF Travis Brailey;
■Radiation Instrument Operation – Chief Guarnera, Deputy Chief Parker, Captains James Ferguson, Jamal Hamilton, Andrew Soltysik;
■Fire Prevention Principals I & II – Capt. Jack;
■Plans Review for Fire/life Safety – Capt. Jack;
■Juvenile Fire Setting Prevention – Capt. Hamilton;
■Career Firefighter Recruit Academy – FF Sean Morris (graduates this month);
■Call Firefighter Recruit Academy – FFs Todd Bowdridge, Augustin Carra, and Trisha Gonyor.
All members of the department train in emergency vehicle operations and receive ongoing medical training. Other forms of training are done each shift under direction of the officer in charge. The training in emergency vehicle operations was taught by Guarnera, who is an instructor. Those who took the Radiation Instrument Operation training will, in turn, be training the rest of the department in that subject.
Guarnera pointed out that firefighters Hogan and Bond, who took the course in swift water rescue, “became instructors in that, also. They went to Kennebunkport, Maine to have that training done and, in doing that, they in turn trained the entire department to the Swift Water Rescue Technician’s level. The entire department, give or take a few, have got to be trained to that.”
To anyone skeptical about the need to send a Athol firefighters to New Mexico to train in responding to a terrorist bombing, Gurnera said, “Any education is good education. For me, it’s more for recognition and identification. In our position, we go into houses on medicals, for alarms sounding, and for investigation of smoke, and it’s nice to know that, while we’re there, you might see something that might spark your interest — something that is part of a bomb-making material or anything like that. You can identify it. If you don’t know what it is, the safety of our firefighters is definitely at risk, as well as all emergency responders.”
Guarnera said training in radiation instrument is operation is crucial because such devices are critical in responding to hazardous materials incidents.
“The first thing we bring down range with us at any time is a radiation meter,” he explained. “Because you don’t know what’s out there. You have no idea what’s in a dumpster at a dumpster fire. You have no idea regarding the hazardous materials at any scene you’re going to.
“It’s a hand-held wand that will detect alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Ninety-nine percent of the time you probably won’t pick up anything, but it’s that one percent of the time that can save somebody’s life.”
Asked about any expense to the taxpayers of Athol for all the training, Guarnera responded, “I knew you would ask that. First of all, training is priceless. Let me say that right off the bat. Training is priceless. If it saves one of my firefighters or it saves somebody in the public, it was worth every penny we paid for it.
“I will tell you that 99 percent of the courses are absolutely free — from flights to housing to food stipends. They’re out there; because I’ve taken these courses in the past, I know where to go for them. If anything, it might cost one shift coverage. But for the most part, it’s not costing the town a penny.”
Guarnera concluded by saying he’s always looking for new training opportunities for his crew.
“The medical training is very consistent. The monthly training for the department — that’s consistent. I do have a rule that people on shift have training from eight o’clock in the morning to two o’clock in the afternoon of some sort. Every day consists of training. It could be everything from just doing a street drill to actually getting out the jaws (of life) and working on that.
“As far as national training, I want to send more people to New Mexico Tech for Incident Response to Terrorism Bombing, or maybe even Incident Response to Suicide Bombing. I’d like to get the police involved in that also. Again, it’s not costing the town — not one cent.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com