Win Bur Sew Volunteers Return From Special Training

COURTESY PHOTO The Gazette
A view of “Disaster Town” at Texas A&M University where firefighters train in putting out petroleum based fires.

Win Bur Sew volunteers return from special training
Two members of the Win Bur Sew Fire Protection District recently completed rigorous petroleum firefighting training in College Station, Texas. Deputy Chief Scott Nailor and Captain Ryan Kaufman were selected from the Win Bur Sew Fire District and they trained with 15 others from all over the Midwest.
Marathon Petroleum sponsored the training and paid for the two to travel to Texas A&M University. They trained on extinguishing oil and other petroleum products fires and spills. Texas A&M is well known for its “Disaster Town”, where real size training props are used to assist in life-like training scenarios. The two trained on large oil and gas storage tanks, simulating spills and fires.
“We have a great deal of gas and diesel storage tanks, as well as gas tanker trucks, that are in our response area, so this is great training for our fire fighters,” Win Bur Sew Fire Chief Robert Martin said. “They will bring back to the department tips and techniques that will help the whole department.”
Marathon Petroleum has a large distribution site on the East side of the fire district and Marathon has been very proactive over the years in assisting the fire district with training and grants.
“It makes sense for them to us, we are better prepared and our relationship is strong with Marathon,” Chief Martin added. “We are grateful to Marathon for this opportunity, but also to Deputy Nailor and Captain Kaufman as they gave up four days from work and took vacation time to cover the days gone from their full-time jobs, it is so awesome that we have strong volunteers like these two on our team. The volunteer fire fighters give so much and this is just one example. Most people would not give of their time to make the community better like all the crew does at the fire station.”