MU Fire and Rescue Training Institute
Source: MU Extension Annual Report, FY 2008
Every hour of instruction received and every emergency first responder trained translate directly into safer firefighters and safer communities.
Missouri’s emergency responders face life-threatening situations every day. MU Extension’s Fire and Rescue Training Institute is charged with providing comprehensive continuing professional education and training to Missouri’s fire service and emergency response personnel. Its mission continues to focus on providing effective, standards-based quality programs for the state and nation’s emergency responders, who receive comprehensive instruction in structural, wildland and aircraft firefighting; emergency medical care; technical rescue; environmental emergency mitigation; fire service instructor and company officer development; counter-terrorism; emergency management; and emergency planning and exercise evaluation.
During FY 2008, the institute provided 311,522 student instructional hours of training, enrolling 20,374 students and conducting 849 courses. Instruction delivered through multiple formats makes courses accessible to a broader audience. Face-to-face and online training, conferences and webcasts accounted for 76 percent of courses delivered throughout the year. Registered programs, taught by state-certified instructors in their own departments, accounted for the other 24 percent. Courses were held in 87 Missouri counties, with participants coming from all of the state’s counties. In addition, students from 24 other states registered for the institute’s courses.
Firefighters learn to work with the current as they practice swiftwater rescue at a Missouri theme park. This line-crossing technique, called a tension diagonal, harnesses the force of the current to transport flood victims across a stream. The 28-hour course includes lectures, land drills, equipment familiarization, practical training, a swim test and a night drill.
In the winter and spring, Missouri faced multiple disasters. As part of the county and state emergency response, the institute and MU Extension’s joint Community Emergency Management Program provided information and technical assistance to county offices and local communities. The program assisted in eight presidential disaster declarations and two state emergency declarations in Missouri during the year.
The challenges of new technology, new emergency hazards and ever-changing world events face our state and nation. To the fire service professional, both career and volunteer, the best means of preparing to meet these challenges is through training. Missouri’s emergency responders turn to MU FRTI to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date so they can perform their duty of protecting lives and property safely and effectively.
MU Fire and Rescue Training Institute Web site