Nearly 300 volunteer and career firefighters from Wyoming and Montana converged on Park County Fire District 2 in Cody on May 3-4 for a weekend of training and camaraderie.

Firefighters had 28 classes to choose from covering an array of skill levels and topics, including live fire classes like fire behavior in the burn building, attacking a simulated car fire or using hose streams to control Liquid Petroleum Gas fires. Other hands-on topics were Basic Self Contained Breathing Apparatus or SCBA, Advanced Vehicle Extrication, forcible entry, basic and advanced fire pump operations and Entry Level Drivers Training.

There were several classroom style classes offered; SLICERS and flowpath, post-blast investigation and origin, many different wildland classes and fire incident reporting. Many of these classes can be used to fill out task books for certifications and all of them can be used to help firefighters safely and effectively protect the communities they serve.

Today’s firefighters have many tasks and emergencies they are expected to handle and annual schools like this give them the opportunity to train on these events but also to expand their networks and friendships.