We've all heard the phrase "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change." But if you are taking part in training that requires outdoor skill work, waiting for the weather to change isn't always practical. The newest training prop in the hazardous materials training area at TEEX Brayton Fire Training Field not only provides shelter from the ever-changing Texas weather, but it also allows more students to practice and test their skills during training. The new prop, known as the Protective Housing Project, will be used by students in several classes including Hazmat Technician, Rail Car Specialist, and Transportation Specialist. The prop has 12 protective housings and can be used for teaching skills such as transfers. Students also train on how to troubleshoot rail incidents.
Jeremy Osterberger speaks with Chief Robert Moore of TEEX about the 56th Annual Industrial Fire School, hosting 712 students and over 200 guest instructors to teach all disciplines of emergency response.
"It's been something we've been looking at adding for several years," said Nick Hickson, Hazmat Program Training Manager at TEEX. "It not only protects students and instructors from weather, but it also allows more students to get hands-on skills training at one time, making it extremely time efficient for our classes. And that means the quality of training goes up as well."
Hickson added that although a few classes will use it between now and July, the new training prop will really see its first heavy duty use during Annual Industrial School, July 15-20. And with temperatures that regularly reach the upper 90s with a heat index near 100, having a sheltered training prop with large fans to circulate air is important, especially for those students in training suits.
BIC Magazine's Jeremy Osterberger talks with Tevin Barlow of ExxonMobil Beaumont about his experience at the TEEX Annual Industrial Fire School.
"We anticipate it being fully functional and ready to go for the Transportation Specialist course during annual school. It's a great opportunity for those students," said Hickson.
Once annual schools are complete, the new project will be used on a regular basis by classes in College Station.
Joe Hunt, field instructor of TEEX Industrial Fire School and the medical and emergency services supervisor for Lubrizol Corporation, tells BIC Magazine about his sixth year at TEEX and the knowledge supplied by instructors and students from all over the world.
Among the other Hazmat courses offered by TEEX are Awareness, Operations and Technician Level courses, including those aligned with the current NFPA 472 standard. But, those standards are changing, and TEEX is currently in the process of adapting its curriculum to the new NFPA 1072 standards.
The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Emergency Services Training Institute (ESTI) is headquartered in College Station, Texas. Each year, ESTI trains more than 100,000 people in 62 countries around the world. More than 65,000 trained at Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station last year.
For more information on the Hazmat training program, contact Nick Hickson at Nicholas.Hickson@teex.tamu.edu. For information on other TEEX programs, visit our website at teex.org/esti. You can aslo reach us via our main Facebook account, facebook.com/teexfire.
