(BLAINE) – Fires are fewer and farther between these days for Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View firefighters.
“We don’t have as many fires as we used to, like we did 30-40 years ago, so our experience levels are decreased,” said Chief Charlie Smith. “Training, specifically, is really what allows us to perform better.”
Smith said training is best when it’s at a fixed facility used by several departments. He said the practice of departments doing live burn training by setting fire to condemned buildings is also not as commonplace as it used to be.
“We don’t have as many fires as we used to, like we did 30-40 years ago, so our experience levels are decreased,” said Chief Charlie Smith. “Training, specifically, is really what allows us to perform better.”
Smith said training is best when it’s at a fixed facility used by several departments. He said the practice of departments doing live burn training by setting fire to condemned buildings is also not as commonplace as it used to be.
That’s one reason he is among several emergency response leaders in the North Metro working with state lawmakers on a possible funding bill for a training facility somewhere in or very near Blaine. A bill introduced at the state capital in St. Paul in January calls for state bonds to pay for the initial costs.
“A fixed facility would be outstanding,” said Smith. “(It) would help all of us.”
SBM recently touted its improved Public Protection Classification from the Insurance Service Office, and Smith said a big part of that rating is how well and how often the department is engaged in training.
He also realizes that the state funding process can be a slow effort, and building support for a project that could be at least five years away from breaking ground allows him and other first responders to build support among the North Metro departments to plan the facility and how it best could be used.
“I think they all realize—we realize—we’re just more effective when we all work together, and (are) able to mitigate what we do.”
