\n\t“Half the course is sitting in a chair learning about material, and a chunk of it is getting familiar with the tools and equipment,” Brauer said. “Some people haven’t swung an ax before or used hand tools common to wildland fires.”<\/p>\n
\n\tStudents will learn how to control fires and how to put them out, he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t“We try to mix it up so they’re not in their seats the whole time,” he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe actual burn site hasn’t been determined yet, Brauer said. In the past, the institute has worked with the Urbana Park District on burns and on university properties.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe course prepares students to meet National Wildfire Coordination Group requirements for qualification as a basic wildland firefighter and to earn a “red card” \u2013 needed for work in all federal and many state and private wildland fire organizations.<\/p>\n
\n\t“Taking the class and getting the ‘red card’ opens up summer job opportunities for students to fight wildfires on Illinois and federal lands,” Brauer said.<\/p>\n
\n\tBrauer said the institute often gets calls during the California fire season from people wanting to know how to get training for fighting wildfires.<\/p>\n
\n\tOnce people get this training, they’ll be eligible to be picked up as a seasonal employee of the Department of Natural Resources, with the possibility of being deployed to fight fires in Illinois and elsewhere, he added.<\/p>\n
\n\tBrauer said most fires east of the Continental Divide are grass fires, while most west of the divide involve trees and woods. Florida fires often involve marshes and swamplands.<\/p>\n
\n\t“This class covers all types,” he said, even though the practical exercise is typical only of Midwestern fires.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut if someone takes the class, gets a red card and is deployed to a fire out West, that person will be teamed with a seasoned crew, he said.<\/p>\n
\n\tBrauer said there’s risk anytime someone takes part in fire training, but he said the risk associated with the class is minimal because of “intense supervision and scrutiny.”<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter completion of the class, a representative of the Department of Natural Resources will be on hand to administer a “pack test,” making sure students can take a 3-mile hike with a 45-pound pack in 45 minutes or less.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe class will be led by Rochelle firefighter Tom Richter, who has been teaching about wildland fires since 1990.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n CHAMPAIGN \u2013 Tired of the beach routine? If you’re looking for new ways to spend spring break, how about learning to fight wildland fires? The University of Illinois Fire Service Institute is offering such a course during spring break \u2013 March 22 to 26 \u2013 and it culminates in “a hands-on wildland firefighting exercise.” The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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