Gloucester and Abingdon volunteer firefighters and one Charles City County career firefighter attended a joint Virginia Fire Programs Basic Pump Operator training course during the past week hosted by Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad.
Lt. Tony Villani, GVFRS’s fire prevention officer, taught the class, assisted by Fire Training Lieutenant Nick Preli of Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue. Villani said that over the course of three days, Thursday–Saturday, Sept. 25-27, five pump operator candidates, both male and female, received classroom instruction at GVFRS Station 1 and Abingdon Station 3, along with hands-on training at Page Middle School.
Exploring both traditional and cutting-edge techniques that their instructors had learned at state and national training conferences, the candidates learned to obtain a draft from static sources such as dump tanks, ponds, creeks, and rivers; to use Gloucester’s “fast attack” Engine 14 to access areas that larger apparatus can’t; and to u...