Wildland Firefighters Tune Up & Polish Skills in Fire Engine Operator Training Workshop

In partnership with the Unified Fire Authority and Utah National Guard, firefighters attended the interagency fire engine operator training workshop on May 25. Since 2012, this annual fire engine training has been hosted at Camp Williams in Bluffdale, Utah. Camp Williams is the ideal location for hands-on training that accurately represents the topography, terrain, and vegetation present across public lands in the lower elevations of the western United States.

Fire engines are the backbone of initial attack fire suppression, and fire training is vital to the safety and success of firefighters. This specialized training program is an intensive week-long course designed to enhance the knowledge, skills and abilities of firefighters with approximately three to four years of wildfire experience and features scenarios with real-world situations to use best practices for engine operations. Crews learned suppression tactics, polishing readiness skills, changing a flat tire, mobile attack, and laying hose lines. Members of the media were also invited on a field tour to learn more about the training program and conducted interviews with BLM Incident Commander Tommy Braun and Unified Fire Authority Lead Paul Story.

The training workshop hosted firefighters from the Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Park City Fire Department and Unified Fire Authority. This year, attendance at this training program expanded with firefighters joining from other states, including New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.

“We value our partnerships with Camp Williams and Unified Fire Authority for helping make this training a great success,” said BLM Incident Commander Tommy Braun.

Successful interagency partnerships are essential in the firefighting community because wildfire knows no boundaries. Working together enables us to better leverage resources and respond efficiently to emergency situations. The fire engine operator training workshop helps ensure the effective use of engines for managing fires safely and efficiently during both initial and extended attack.