Following the events of September 11, 2001 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita the Houston Fire Department recognized the need to become a regional training center. Looking to fulfill the needs of not only HFD, but also area departments the HFD will host a grand opening of the newly renovated HFD Val Jahnke Training Facility, 8030 Braniff, for area fire departments on June 8, 2006 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The $2 million dollar Capital Improvement Plan funded renovation began about a year ago and included renovations and remodeling of the burn building and drill tower. The HFD burn building and drill tower have been used extensively since 1969 to train Houston firefighters.
According to Assistant Chief Omero Longoria, both structures were in need of remodeling to maintain structural integrity and continue to provide settings to efficiently train HFD's firefighting forces with the highest degree of realism representative of the demands and challenges of the job.
District Chief Josef Gregory of the Academy and the training officers have already witnessed positive results of HFD training through some of the new facilities now at the academy, including an interactive strategic simulator that provides scenarios using DVD and Computer based technologies and was created by firefighters at the HFD Training Academy.
"This simulator allows for maximum flexibility during the incident. Simulations can escalate or mitigate based on either the user's performance or predetermined scenario parameters," said Gregory
Fire Chief Phil Boriskie said training is a vital part of insuring the department's abilities in protecting not only citizens' life and property, but the firefighter's themselves.
"HFD is always seeking ways to better itself," said Boriskie. "These renovations will allow not only us to work towards that goal but other department's as well."
The HFD currently offers competitively priced courses, state-of-the-art facilities and experienced, knowledgeable instructors for fire departments around the world to utilize. Fire Departments from outside the state, including Louisiana have made reservations to attend the June 8 event.
This event will feature:
- 1p.m. to 5p.m. - Vendor Show
- 1p.m. to 5p.m. – course demonstrations (good photo opportunity for media)
- Incident Command Utilizing HFD Strategic Simulator
- Company Officer Development
- Truck Company Relations
- Fire Tactics
- High Rise Fire Tactics
- Online Continuing Education
- Fire Extinguisher Operations
- Mayday/RIT Course
- Diversity Training
- Fire ground Pump Operations
- Shipboard Fire Tactics
- Introduction to Basic Life Support (CPR)
- Mass Casualty Incident Training
- 5:30pm to 7:30 pm – free continuing education course for those pre-registered firefighters.
For additional information, please visit the HFD website at www.houstonfire.org or the Strategic Simulator and Training Website at www.hfdsimulator.com.
