Training Photo Gallery
Every Monday night the Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company holds weekly drills. They start at 7pm and normally end around 9pm. These can be anything from routine maintenance, new fire and rescue techniques, to working with our EMS or neighboring departments. We also hold courses from Northampton County Community College and Bucks County Community College for training. These courses vary from 4 to 120 hours and can be from medical related to fire, rescue, and specialty rescue. These classes are sometimes on a Monday night which would start around 630pm, more class time could be an 8am-5pm Saturday or Sunday. There are many photos below of various types of training throughout various programs.
On April 1st and 8th, Bushkill Township hosted their annual Hazardous Materials Operations Course. It is open to the county but most of the other members that were in the class were from Klecknersville Rangers Volunteer Fire Company of Moore Township. We trained on foam applications and using an unmanned deluge gun to cool off a simulated propane tank.
On March 25th, 2019, the Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company practiced priming from forestry equipment and running the pumps on the forestry equipment. This included Brush 5241, Brush 5246, and 52-UTV-1 and was just a refresher on how to operate the pumps for the heart of brush fire season. This was also the first time we got to use the pump on brush 5246.
On December 4th 2017, Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company, Klecknersville Rangers Volunteer Fire Company (Moore Twp.), and Bath Volunteer Firefighters performed a joint ladder training on our fire training tower. As you can see from the pictures, we had multiple ladders set to multiple floors and practiced hoseline advencement and ladder placement. It was a great team effort between the three departments.
The Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company participated in the Norfolk Southern Rail Emergencies class hosted by Norfolk Southern & Transcaer in Bethlehem, Pa on May 24th, 2017. It was hosted on the Norfolk Southern "Training First Responders" train that Norfolk Southern custom built to train emergency responders at no cost throughout their 22,000 mile rail network. It was a great class and very informational!
On May 5th 2017, Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company participated in their annual Hazardous Materials Operations Refresher Course. This is an 8 hour course with the purpose to keep up to date on hazardous materials operations. For 2017, we focused on foam applications and mass decontamination operations.
On May 1st 2017, Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company did pump training including drafting and water relay. We practiced various speeds for best water coverage from the front groundsweeps on both of our brush trucks for field fires along Hudson Way. Our junior firefighters got trained on hose line operations and advancement from some of our senior firefighters as well. Overall, it was a great training experience for our entire department.
On April 10th, we had an F-500 Demonstration on their water additive for assisting in extinguishing fires. The F-500 Encapsulator Agent is a foam-like substance that is safe for use and biodegradable. It eliminates multiple classes of fires at a much faster rate with less water usage. F-500 is a product by Hazard Control Technologies, Inc. For more information on F-500 Encapsulator Agent visit their website.
On August 29th, 2016, our Monday night drill consisted of driver training, engineer training of putting apparatus in and out of pump gear as well as stating and stopping the generators. Upon driver training we stopped at numerous public places to learn how to hook up to the standpipe/sprinkler systems. We also learned about hooking up to hydrants and also looking at some of the new fire hydrants in the new developments with the new Storz connections. The hookup part was a refresher for most members and a good learning experience for the new members of our department. Some of the public places included in our stops were Country Junction & Ashley Furniture Homestore, and Kenneth N. Butz Jr. Elementary School.
On August 22nd 2016, Blue Valley Rescue Squad of Bangor, Pa came to our firehouse to give us knowledge of what equipment they have on their apparatus and what types of rescue operations they do. This was a good refresher for some of our older members and a good time for the new members to find out more about what they do. Blue Valley Rescue Squad specializes in numerous types of rescue including, rope, water, high angle, vehicle and specialty.
August 8th our Monday night practice included a fill and dump site for large fires with tankers/tenders. Ours was with 2 portable ponds/baskets that hold water until we need it. In the pictures you will see how we dump the water into one portable pond and transfer it via siphon jet to another. This can be done with one portable pond, but two give you more water storage. The attack engine would then suction the water into the truck and out to the attack hose lines. In this drill the attack side is setup as the fill site to refill the tankers/tenders. For those of you wondering what the ball is for; the suction from the truck is so strong that it can form an air tornado to form when the water levels are low which will cause you to lose suction and prime. The ball is placed on the tornado and will prevent air from being sucked into the suction hose. The ball is "stuck" in place from the suction holding the ball in place.
We also trained with the new brush truck's front nozzle to get a better idea of how it works via remote control from inside the truck. We tried the fog and straight stream to see how well they worked and how far they reached. We also tried out the front ground sweeps on the front bumper. These are usually used for field and grass fires where the water can be spread quickly to extinguish a large area in a short amount of time.
We also trained with the new brush truck's front nozzle to get a better idea of how it works via remote control from inside the truck. We tried the fog and straight stream to see how well they worked and how far they reached. We also tried out the front ground sweeps on the front bumper. These are usually used for field and grass fires where the water can be spread quickly to extinguish a large area in a short amount of time.
Bushkill Township firefighters had their annual NFPA Hazardous Materials 472 refresher course on July 25th & 30th 2016. July 25th consisted of classwork and July 30th was a hands on incident.
The incident was of a construction worker that had muriatic acid spill from a 55 gallon drum and collapsed from the fumes. It was unknown if it mixed with the Portland cement. The victim had a language barrier and could not understand or speak English. Crews were sent into the hot zone to disperse the fumes with an electric fan since muriatic acid is reactive to water. The crew had to pull the victim to a safe area and begin decontamination of the patient and have him transported to the hospital. The crew then had to get decontaminated themselves after going into the contaminated (hot zone) to retrieve the patient.
The incident was of a construction worker that had muriatic acid spill from a 55 gallon drum and collapsed from the fumes. It was unknown if it mixed with the Portland cement. The victim had a language barrier and could not understand or speak English. Crews were sent into the hot zone to disperse the fumes with an electric fan since muriatic acid is reactive to water. The crew had to pull the victim to a safe area and begin decontamination of the patient and have him transported to the hospital. The crew then had to get decontaminated themselves after going into the contaminated (hot zone) to retrieve the patient.
May 2nd 2016, Firefighters practiced vehicle rescue with only operating an air chisel and vehicle stabilization. We have 2 types of blades for the air chisel, a heavy metal for thick steel and a sheet metal blade for cutting through thin sheet metal. We primarily focused on sheet metal but also cut through the C post of the van after making a purchase point (entry for the air chisel) with an axe and haligon bar.
April 25th 2016, The fire company decided to practice building a fire line for a wildfire. These are made by hand most of the time but for large fires, heavy equipment can also be used. We use a wide variety of tools to get down to bare soil so the fire does not jump over the line and burns out where there is no other fuel for it to burn. We also have to dig out underground roots as fire can burn through the roots and resurface on the other side of the fire line. Below are some pictures of the before during and after of building a fire line.
April 11th 2016, Our department practiced pumping with our new brush truck at the pond on Hudson Way, off Route 512.
On Monday March 14th 2016, our firefighters practiced vehicle stabilization. This occurs at motor vehicle accidents when a patient is trapped in a vehicle and needs to be extricated. Making the car stable will prevent further injury while firefighters and EMT's are working on the car and patient.
Members of the Bushkill Township Volunteer Fire Company recently took a course; Hazardous Materials Operations 472. This is a 24 hour course being taught by the Northampton County Fire Training School. It operates for 2 Monday nights (8/10/15 & 8/24/15) at 4 hours each and 2 Saturdays (8/15/15 & 8/29/15) at 8 hours each.
On Monday June 29th, we did Tender shuttle training with Hecktown Volunteer Fire Company (Serving Lower Nazareth Township). Other participating companies were Upper Nazareth Fire Department, Se-Wy-Co Volunteer Fire Co. (Serving Lower Saucon Township), Plainfield Twp. Vol Fire Co. and East Allen Township Vol. Fire Co. This was to test how much water flow Hecktown could supply through their Snozzle. The average was 500 gallons per minute with a small amount of time at 800 gallons per minute. The training took place at Dutch Springs Aqua Park on Hanoverville Road, Lower Nazareth Township. A special thanks to Dutch Springs for allowing us to train at this wonderful place. There are a total of 48 photos in this slide show.