Carmen Thomas Memorial Guard School
This week 33 men and women from all over south central Oregon participated in the 7th annual Carmen Thomas Memorial Guard School. Students from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Forestry, Klamath Community College, and Bly Rural Fire Protection District reported for five days of intensive wildland firefighter training.
Guard school gives students the opportunity to participate in classroom and hands-on training, including observing weather, fire shelter deployment, using and maintaining hand tools, fireline construction, navigation tools, and fire engine demonstrations.
The week’s training culminates in a live fire exercise. Students are assigned to crews and dispatched to an incident. Once on scene students receive a briefing and participate in suppression activities, including handline construction, hose lays, and mop-up. After completion of guard school students will continue with hands-on training with their respective agency.
In 2012, Carmen Thomas passed away from cancer. Carmen was a Fire Training Specialist with the Fremont-Winema National Forest and Lakeview District BLM who was instrumental in creating the guard school we know today. She worked within the fire organization as a fire lookout, firefighter, dispatcher, and fire training specialist assisting many interagency personnel, and contributing to the fire community with their training needs. Carmen was a positive force, a valued colleague, and she is missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment