Mt. Pleasant hosts fire training

An array of Midwestern fire departments met at McMillan Park in Mt. Pleasant over the weekend.

Yarmouth Fire Captain Doug Kelkman, who organized the event, said the regional training exercises brought in 90 firefighters from Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.

“I did some visits around Henry County and in the immediate area and promoted this training, and that’s how they heard about it,” he said. “I’m getting the help from our state training bureau, they have the props so I worked with them on scheduling.”

While the training is taken seriously, Kelkman said it could be fun.

“Sometimes it is fun to train, especially with props we’ve never had before,” he said. “How often to we get a house we can tear up the roof on?”

Kelkman said money for the equipment was only possible through state backing for volunteer fire departments like his.

“Over $800,000 has been allocated for training during the current fiscal year,” he said. “ I jokingly say, ‘Thank you for paying your taxes,’ because this is funded through the Volunteer Training fund … If my department had to pay the bill for even just one of the props, $3,000-$4,000 would wipe us out pretty much, because we’re a small department.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com