Chester FD participates in wildfire training
<span>Firefighters with the Chester Fire Department recently spent the weekend training to earn their wildland firefighters certificate.</span>
<span>The training included burning off about 20 acres near Randolph County Lake.</span>
<span>"If we were going out to fight field fires, we needed this extra training," said Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert. "It's learning tactics and strategies on how to battle a forest fire."</span>
<span>The training was federally-funded through the Illinois Fire Service Institute. Bert told the Herald Tribune that 24 firefighters participated in the program, which seeks to train first responders on the skills needed to address wildfires, according to the IFSI website.</span>
<span>"In that 20 acres, we probably didn't use more than 20 gallons of water," Bert said. "It was using hand tools and techniques like burning against the wind and letting it control (the fire)."</span>
<span>Bert said the state's budget impasse has put state-funded certified training on hold. He noted that if the wildland training wasn't federally-funded, the cost would be $480 per person.</span>
<span>"All of our Cornerstone classes are on hold," Bert said. "There are five or six classes funded federally, but the rest are held up by state budget impasse."</span>
<span>Cornerstone Program classes deliver "fundamental training in increments convenient to meet the needs of the local department," according to the IFSI website, with the intent of enhancing basic fire service training.</span>
<span>Class costs are normally reimbursed through the Office of the State Fire Marshal so that the training is free to students. But the budget strife has put a damper on certified training.</span>
<span>"We won't be able to do any certified training, but we still do our (in-house) training two times a month at the firehouse," Bert said.</span>
<span>Overall, Bert is happy with the experience his firefighters have received as a result of the wildland training.</span>
<span>"We learned a lot of new techniques," he said. "The stuff that we had burned out (at Randolph County Lake) we had never attempted before this class and now we feel we can do that safely."</span>