Highland County Firefighters Association members participate in training sessions

By Gregory M. Grant

The Highland County Firefighters Association (HCFFA) members were treated to a visit Thursday evening at the Hillsboro Fire and Rescue station by the Medflight helicopter and crew based out of Lucasville.

Medflight is a not-for-profit CAMTS Certified Medical Air Transport Service based in Columbus Ohio.

Their helicopters are a joint project of Medflight and Healthnet of West Virginia.

The firefighters association received two evenings of training sponsored by Medflight this week, with the first nights training on Tuesday, and the training topic was landing zone safety.

This session was to instruct the county fire and EMS agencies on how to set up a landing zone for the helicopters and to ensure a safe environment for both fire/EMS and the flight crews to operate in at a scene.

The Medflight helicopter was planned to be at that session, but due an emergency, they were unable to fly in that evening.

On Thursday evening, Danielle Caruthers, a Medflight nurse presented an education program on difficult airways and capnography which is a piece of equipment EMS personnel can use to measure the carbon dioxide (CO2) in exhaled breath. This is a tool to aide EMS personnel in evaluation of a patients breathing status and air exchange.

Thursday’s event was capped off with a visit by the flight crew to the classroom training site at the host department, Hillsboro Fire and Rescue.

Fire/EMS personnel from several Highland County agencies were in attendance at both of these sessions.

The Highland County Firefighters Association is represented by all Highland County Fire and EMS agencies and its purpose is to provide for training opportunities for area agencies at no or low cost.

The HCFFA raises money through their annual fish fries and the Kroger Klassic car show to sponsor trainings and educational events throughout the year.