HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) – Hundreds of firefighters gathered at Hazard Community and Technical College Saturday for the Mountain Firefighters Association’s annual Hazard Fire School.
Training coordinator Preston Hays said the multiple courses see people with a wide range of experience levels taking part in the weekend activities.
“This is probably the first training some of these people have ever taken, and then we have the experienced firefighters who may have been on the force for 30 or 35 years,” Hays said. “We have a wide range of people and we try to offer courses that meet the needs of each individual.”
He said the training could be important for volunteer departments that may not have the resources to provide the training.
“It’s a good, centralized training that both volunteer and professional firefighters can take and get the same level of training, because nowhere in the definition of volunteerism does it say that you can’t be professional,” Hays added.
Brandon Smith, president of the Mountain Firefighters Association, said the Five Alarm Festival helps fund the training so it can remain free.
“It helps us raise the funds, bring together local businesses that proudly donate and support this festival, and it helps all of us firefighters across the state, and it also provides the free training. We are only one of two free fire schools in the state of Kentucky,” he said.
Hays said this year is different as they continue to update the training.
“We have new props, new teachers, new curriculum. So we’re trying to introduce this new content and make this school different from all the others in previous years,” he said.
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