The 2013 Marine Firefighting Symposium was held October 8-10 in Seward. This was the first time the symposium was held in a community outside of Valdez. By working with the Seward Fire Department and AVTEC – Alaska’s Institute of Technology, this year’s symposium was also the first time that live fire training was part of the program.
There were 39 participants and eight facilitators at the event. The entire state was well represented with a good mix of communities and industry partners. Attendance numbers were lower this year due to several factors, including the federal government shutdown.
We were given a great deal of support from the Seward Chamber of Commerce, Seward Fire Department, Scott and Eagle Safety, AVTEC, Kenai Fjords Tours, Foss, Crowley Maritime, Cook Inlet Tug & Barge, Resolve Marine and the International Fire Service Training Association. The Alaska Department of Homeland Security provided funds for 11 firefighters from across the state to travel to the event.
The Seward Chamber of Commerce hosted a welcome reception on Monday, October 7th at the Seaward Sea Life Center. The Chamber also helped provide lunches and social activities for all in attendance.
On the first day, participants learned basics of marine firefighting and vessel terminology. A marine firefighting for land-based firefighters certification standard has been under development by the State of Alaska. This year’s symposium marks the first time attendees could seek the awareness level certification under the program and background information required for passing the written test was presented during Monday’s classroom session.
The second day, participants were broken into seven engine companies. During the morning, the engine companies rotated through a number of training stations at AVTEC’s Marine Fire Training Facility. These simulated mounting a ladder to a ship’s deck, conducting a search and rescue, transporting a patient off a vessel and advancing a charged fire hose from shore onto a vessel.
During lunch, a representative of Honeywell discussed the use of portable gas detectors used to sense carbon monoxide, oxygen, flammable vapors and hydrogen sulfide. Students used these detectors later in the program at the harbor.
That afternoon, students were rotated between a number of live fire training stations. These included operations in the AVTEC ship fire simulator, and fire extinguisher training with a propane burn pit, a diesel fire and burning timber. The weather was exceptional and students were given ample time to practice at each station.
On the third day, more training stations were setup at Seward’s small boat harbor. Training stations included two Kenai Fjords cruise ships, the Cook Inlet tug Junior, the vessel Bering, and a Resolve Marine pump. The Seward Fire Department also provided two engines and their fireboat for the exercises.
Visit us on Facebook for more photos (Facebook account not needed to access photos): Â 2013 Marine Firefighting Symposium for Land Based Firefighters
Read more about the event in the Seward Phoenix Log: Â RCAC trains firefighters in marine blazesÂ