Course teaching firefighting essentials

SANDPOINT — Scaled tall buildings? Check.

Raced into a burning building? Check.

Rescued someone needing help? Check

While some are real-world situations, like climbing 50-foot ladder to the second-floor balcony of Panhandle State Bank’s Sandpoint Center, and others are simulated practice sessions, they all have one thing in common — they’re part of an ongoing fire academy teaching the basics of firefighting.

The academy, a cooperative effort of the Sandpoint and Sagle fire departments, began the “Essentials of Firefighting” course in early March.

About 40 people are taking the course, which teaches the basics of what volunteers need to know. The course covers everything from safety, fire behavior and ventilation to ropes, building construction and other fundamentals.

Two nights a week, the academy’s students meet for two hours after work. Saturdays, they dedicate eight hours to the course. By the time they graduate in mid-May, they’ll have spent 120 hours learning how fires are fought.

Some days, the training is based in the classroom, with instructors teaching the varied aspects of firefighting, from its history to its methodology to future trends. Other days, like last weekend at Panhandle State Bank’s Sandpoint Center, the new volunteers get a chance to put what they’re learning into practice.

While they won’t leave the course knowing everything about every aspect of firefighting, the new volunteers will know the basics.

“At the end, they’ll know a little bit about every aspect,” said Matt Palkki, one of the two volunteers selected as battalion leaders for the course.

They’ll know how fire behaves and how to respond, and will be able to put that knowledge into practice at area fire departments, said Shawn Goughnour, who also was selected as a battalion leader.

Both Palkki and Goughnour are volunteers with Sandpoint Fire Department and when the chance came to take the course, they both jumped at it.

“I always had an interest in firefighting and thought about volunteering and, when the chance came, I jumped at it,” Goughnour said of his decision to take the course.

Neither expected to be named a battalion leader when they signed up for the class, but when the opportunity was presented at the first class, both said they were excited by the challenge and opportunity it represented.

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Volunteers do much more than actively participate in firefighting, although that can be a big attraction in why people sign up. Help is needed in all aspects of running a fire department and volunteers help with a wide range of activities and positions, from firefighting to helping at the scene or putting away equipment, Goughnour and Palkki said.

“There’s lots of roles, lots of help needed at the station,” Goughnour said.

Even though they were already volunteering, both Palkki and Goughnour said they’ve learned a lot from the course.

While some may assume fighting a fire translates into dumping as much water as possible on it, the reality is more complex, the pair said.

Among the surprises, needing to learn about building construction and finding out how buildings are put together affects how fires are fought. The technical aspects of construction, the differences between single-family homes and commercial buildings and changing codes also play into how fires are fought.

All of the volunteers deserve kudos for their commitment in taking the course, said Sandpoint Fire Chief Robert Tyler. While a few already volunteer with either Sagle or Sandpoint, most are new to firefighting and simply wanted to make a difference and help others.

“I’m really impressed with this group of volunteers,” he added.

“The dedication and commitment to their communities and the time they’ve put in so far is nothing less than a testament to what they will do in the future.”