State Farm folks pictured in the photo are (from left) Columbia State Farm Agents Greg Hill, Stephanie Wilmsmeyer, Brian Hazelrigg, Phyllis Miller, Sales Leader Ryan Kenney, MU FRTI Director David Hedrick, D.J. Hinds, Lisa Cravens, MU Interim Vice Provost of Extension Tom Henderson, and Justin Hahn.

The University of Missouri’s Fire and Rescue Training Institute (MU FRTI) recently received a 2015 State Farm Good Neighbor Citizenship Grant. The State Farm gift will support essential training for Missouri emergency responders to highway incidents. Through this training the responder will gain additional competency in the quick stabilization and removal of accident victims thus improving patient survival, while safely managing of the incident scene thus preventing additional accidents and injuries.

The funding provided to MU FRTI was part of an overall gift to the University of Missouri that will support a variety of MU community outreach programs. Director Hedrick acknowledged the importance of the funding support for firefighter training by saying, “This training initiative supported by State Farm provides essential training that will enable safer firefighters, safer citizens, and safer communities in Missouri.”

Missouri’s six million citizens are served by an estimated 29,000 firefighters, of which approximately 73% are volunteers. According to Missouri’s Fire Incident Report System, firefighters responded to over 454,000 incidents in 2014 which equates to nearly one response every minute.

MU FRTI is a unit of MU Extension and is charged with the responsibility of providing comprehensive continuing professional education training to Missouri’s fire service and emergency response personnel. The Institute provides training to approximately 13,000 fire and emergency service first responders each year.