JULIAN, W.Va. –
Twenty-three first responders from Georgia, Virginia, and West Virginia, attended the first open enrollment first responder’s course to be offered at the Hobet All Hazards Training Center in Julian, West Virginia, March 30 and 31st, 2019.
The course, Wide Area Wilderness Search and Rescue, was held through the state’s partnership with Spec Rescue International, an emergency rescue training and consulting company for first responders out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Students conducted a practical exercise of a simulated plane crash on the training center’s vast property, which incorporated travel, organization of the disaster site, data collection, and extraction of victims. They also learned how to use handheld compasses, maps, GPS equipment, and physical search techniques, such as a line searches, during the two-day operations, or beginner-level course.
“This partnership allows Spec Rescue the ability to train and certify first responders nationwide, both civilian and military, to the entire rescue discipline standards upheld by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Pro Board accreditations,” said Kevin Clendenin, local fire chief of the Clendenin Volunteer Fire Department and Spec Rescue International representative.
After the devastating floods that affected the State of West Virginia in 2016, emergency response agencies in the state, to include the West Virginia National Guard, saw a need to increase first responder training.
“As a part of the overall Rock Creek development plan, we have been utilizing interagency efforts to develop a part of the Hobet mine site into a new national first responder all-hazards training facility. The completion of this training marks the significant milestone for future first responder training to take place right here in West Virginia,” said Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, the Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard. “Future training offered at the site, both military and civilian, will enable our State and the Nation better prepared for when disasters strike.”
“It really assists our community,” said Jacob Clendenin, a lieutenant with the Clendenin Volunteer Fire Department. “With the floods in 2016, we saw the need for wide area search and rescue to assist the community in finding things and finding people. That was some of the driving force behind attending the class.”
Future courses for first responders will be available at the Hobet All Hazards Training Facility in the coming months.