The 2009 Warren E. Isman Education Grant was awarded to the Champaign (IL) Fire Department. The award enabled 5 members of their hazmat team to attend the annual Midwest HazMat Response Conference in Northbrook, IL last May.
Following the conference, the team expressed its appreciation for the award to NFPA, and noted that many hours of training and drilling are needed to prepare them for Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) responses. The award went a long way to providing further training and ensure that team members are ready to answer the call, and contribute to the MABAS system when requested.
At the conference, team members attended courses on Training in the 21st Century, Risk Assessment for WMD, Hazmat by the Numbers, Hazmat Team Safety Officer, Learning Hazmat in 90 Minutes and several others. Everyone attending the courses came away with useful knowledge, contacts, and training tools that can be used in their department.
Attending the conference were team members Tyler D. Funk, David Tomlinson, Todd Hitt, William Albin and William Painter.
For more information on the annual Isman award, please contact Christine Ellisat NFPA.
Watch the Fire Service Today blog for the announcement of the 2010 award winner.
Dave Trebisacci