The Mercury News
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. — Milpitas Fire and Spring Valley Volunteer Fire departments joined many other agencies for a fire training exercise last week.
On June 12 to 14, City of Palo Alto and its fire department hosted the Santa Clara County 2017 Annual Wildfire Exercise in preparation of fire season.
Fire Agencies throughout the county participated in this three day exercise at Foothills Park in Palo Alto. Firefighters received training in protecting homes, creating fire breaks, wildfire strategy and tactics, and specialized wildfire equipment operations.
“This training was the first time that the Milpitas Fire Department deployed a new rescue unit for hillside technical rescue response,” Deputy Fire Chief Rick Frawley said.
He added the unit known as the REM unit — rapid extrication module — is tasked with rescuing victims trapped in remote areas.
“We’ve had six people attending per day. Three days of training. This training reinforces our response capability for Milpitas hillside fire responses,” Frawley said.
Besides the Milpitas area fire services, other agencies that took part included the CalFire Santa Clara Unit, Marin County Fire Department, NASA Ames Fire Department, Mountain View Fire Department, Palo Alto Fire Department, San Jose Fire Department and Santa Clara County Fire Department, among others.
The Wildland 2017 Exercise was sponsored by the Santa Clara County Operations Officer’s Association, a subcommittee of the Santa Clara County Fire Chief’s Association.
Copyright 2017 The Mercury News