Hanford firefighter David Newman performs a mock hazardous materials decontamination on his colleague, Keith Johnson.
Hanford firefighter David Newman performs a mock hazardous materials decontamination on his colleague, Keith Johnson.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Hanford firefighters are highly trained to provide emergency services across the 580-square-mile site. It’s crucial they receive unique training specific to the site’s complexity and potential hazards.

   The Hanford Fire Academy is 16 weeks of rigorous training that includes written and physical certification in rescue, hazardous material, and fire extinguisher technician training, as well as training in vehicle extrication and emergency vehicle accident prevention.

   “This year we will be training our firefighters on our newest prop, the multi-force forcible entry door simulator, the only one in our area,” said Nick Thomas, Hanford Fire Department assistant chief of training and certifications. “Our firefighters will be receiving the most up-to-date training on the newest prop on the market.”

Hanford firefighters receive rope rescue training in one of the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center’s state-of-the-art training towers.
Hanford firefighters receive rope rescue training in one of the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center’s state-of-the-art training towers.

The department does the bulk of its training at the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center.

   “HAMMER’s tools and resources provide a great combination when developing training scenarios for workers,” said Jill Conrad, program manager at HAMMER for the Richland Operations Office. “We are fortunate that we can provide emergency responders with some of the best and most unique training props in the business.”

   HAMMER offers an array of life-size props on its 80-acre campus that the firefighters use to gain real-life experience and build their confidence performing drills on confined-space rescue, rope rescue, search drills, and a multitude of live-fire scenarios.

   “We are always striving to add new training opportunities and pride ourselves on feedback and lessons learned on what we can do better as techniques and tactics in the fire service continue to evolve,” said Todd Ofsthun, with HAMMER Fire Operations.