CAMP RIPLEY-Students and faculty of the Central Lakes College Fire & Emergency Medical Service Programs trained Saturday and Sunday at Camp Ripley to validate skills learned in the classroom through hands on training.
"We are running through several scenarios from fire to chemical and first responder actions," said Eric Makowski Budrow, Fire/EMS program manager for Central Lake College.
The Central Lakes College Fire and Emergency Medical Service Program has often been recognized as one of the best in the region for their innovations with live, interactive training and experienced faculty.
The main focus of the program's curriculum is the application of hand-on training incorporating real life scenarios with research-based, proven techniques.
"Our training is a 'hybrid,' meaning we have lectures online giving us optimal time when we meet to begin skills based or hands-on training," added Budrow.
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Of the 20-30 students that make up the program each term, there is a healthy mix of both male and female students. The classes, which are open to everyone, are a mix of fire and EMS training which can be applied to support of public and private interests following completion of the course.
The use of Camp Ripley as an in-the-field resource for the program falls in line with the cooperation between inter-agency partners as well as the provision of support of realistic training environments. In addition to the training space, Central Lakes College leases billeting which can double as a classroom for lecture opportunities.
"The facilities at Camp provide an overall infrastructure to provide enhanced training like nowhere else in the state," added Budrow.
While on Camp Ripley the program utilizes the collective training facilities which offer several variations of scenarios in an urban environment. Additionally, the students use the Emergency Vehicle Operators Course as an ability to place the student and their vehicle in situations simulating real life rescues under multiple conditions.
"The training on the EVOC has been invaluable as well as the use of the training area for our structure fire scenario," continued Budrow.
All firefighters successfully participated in the final iterations of the training and on Sunday passed the Minnesota State Fire Certification Testing.
