Firefighter Level I Certification Offered Locally

Volume 37

Number 1

Winter 2006

Firefighter Level I Certification Offered Locally

By Teresa Jensen
Great Plains Technology Center

LAWTON- Great Plains Technology Center is the first tech center in Oklahoma to be certified in training and testing by Oklahoma State University’s Fire Service Training Center.

Instructors Clint Langford and Nancy Howell teaching the students the proper procedure for carrying and lifting a ladder The certification in Firefighter I means Great Plains met the rigorous criteria of OSU which has long served as Oklahoma’s lone accrediting entity for firefighter training. Great Plains is now qualified to train and test at Firefighter Level I standards, up to and including hazardous material awareness.

“Great Plains is the first school outside Oklahoma State to earn certification,” said Steve George, assistant director of OSU's fire service program. Firefighter I is the first level of nationally recognized competencies for firefighters. While the level is not mandated in Oklahoma many departments expect their firefighters to hold the certification according to George.

George said the certification also ensures Great Plains instructors, equipment and materials are at a high level to conduct testing.

"All we have to do is send in an exam proctor," he said.

Clarence Fortney, director of adult training and instructional development for Great Plains, said the certification allow Great Plains instructors to test at the Lawton campus rather than sending firefighters to OSU at Stillwater. He says that is especially important for members of rural volunteer fire departments across Oklahoma. Most of those volunteers have jobs outside their fire duties.

Lawton Fire Department staff donning Hazmat suits for the first time "Those guys can't take off and go to Stillwater and spend the day," he said. "We do the training here. We can do that level of certified training and meet all of Southwest Oklahoma's needs.

Fortney adds the certification was a natural outgrowth of training the technology center start in 1988. The training has expanded in recent years to include a Firefighter/EMT building and a full-time course in firefighting technology for high school students and adults. The firefighting course was only the third available in the U.S. to high school students.

Great Plains' fire training complex provides facilities for the Lawton Fire Department as well as volunteer units. Fortney says Great Plains is interested in doing anything it can to assist all firefighters.

George said Great Plains testing certification in Firefighter I will remain active until the next accreditation period that will include standard updates slated for 2007.

For more information about the program visit the Great Plains Technology Center website at http://www.gptech.org/

Partners in the Law and Public Safety Cluster include Great Plains Technology Center, the City of Lawton and the Lawton Fire Department. This team was awarded the 2005 Exemplary Worksite Learning Award at the National Tech Prep Network Conference in Orlando for the Emergency Medical Technician/Firefighter Academy. The program is only the third of its kind in the nation and the first in Oklahoma.

The Law and Public Safety Cluster members who accepted the award at the NTPN conference, from the left are: Sally Arrington, GPTC Tech Prep coordinator; Jared Williams, Lawton Fire Department; Nancy Howell, GPTC Firefighter Training instructor; and Senator Don Barrington, former Lawton Fire Chief and current Oklahoma Senator, District 31).

Did You Know. . .

Great Plains Technology Center has trained rural firefighters both paid and volunteer departments since 1990. The center annually trains firefighters who live in each of its nine sending school communities, the largest of which is Lawton.
Since its inception GPTC has trained firefighters associated with more than 25 different departments. The Lawton Fire Department permanently stations a pumper truck inside the technology center’s Public Safety/Firefighter Building.
Great Plains also trains rural volunteer departments in unincorporated areas such as Edgewater Park, Cox's Store, Flower Mound, Cove Acres and Meers.
Great Plains was the first tech center in the state to be certified in training and testing by the Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training Center. This means area firefighters no longer must travel to Stillwaterfor certification.
The technology center facilities at Great Plains include an 8,000 square foot firefighter Building, a state-of-the-art drill tower, featuring burn rooms, Swede Survival System, smokehouse and multi-skill training stations