NEW MELLE, Mo. – After a recent stretch of deadly crashes in the St. Louis region, a new form of training for the New Melle Fire Protection District (NMFPD) debuts next week.
They’re recreating some of their life-saving techniques they recently had to use. With donated vehicles, next Tuesday’s training has a Freightliner Cascadia semi truck perched on top of a Kia Soul.
“I’m loving to be able to bring this to the department and get some guys excited about this aspect of firefighting,” said Assistant Fire Chief Joshua Ellis.
The location of the exercise makes sense due to winding roads on New Melle.
“We have a large dump trucking traffic out here,” Ellis said. “We have new people moving out here and we have small roads. This is a scene that we will see. It’s not a matter of if we’re going to see it, but when we’re going to see it.”
Late last year, NMFPD first responders rescued an injured passenger that was trapped inside their vehicle. Tuesday’s upcoming exercise shows the importance of ongoing education and sharpening skills–the kind of training that can’t be found in any textbook.
“We want our guys to be confident and trained properly to handle a situation like this. So, when they get on the scene, they don’t have to guess. They just go to work,” Ellis said.
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