NOTE: Thursday April 22 in our live! videos the Joplin Fire Department recruits are in their final night of training. These are eight new Joplin Firefighters who have been working since January 11. They graduate April 23, 10:00 AM. The MSSU partnership and Joplin Fire Dept Joplin Regional Fire Academy will not begin until later in 2021. Fire classes are electives and can be chosen as PE credits in the catalog. Any student can be a part of the classes. Some may choose to major in the program.

JOPLIN, Mo. — Tonight these firefighters are ready, educated in the classroom and skilled in the field. “They will go through drills tonight with as little instructor intervention as possible,” EMS Training Chief Dustin Lunow tells us while observing the eight new Joplin Firefighters perform a simulated extrication from a motor vehicle crash at the Joplin Public Safety Training Center.

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Lunow describes others drills on this final night as a high rise exercise, you’ll see in a simulated bedroom fire, kitchen fire and hallway flashover, and outside gas exposed fire where firefighters must cap it off.

“These are all controlled situations, The flames last 8 seconds. It’s propane.” Fire Training Chief Mark Cannon tells us when describing the flashover fire in our live! video seen below.

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MSSU & JOPLIN FIRE DEPT REGIONAL FIRE ACADEMY

JOPLIN, Mo. — The College of Health Sciences at Missouri Southern State University has partnered with the Joplin Fire Department and the City of Joplin to create a regional fire academy.

The program will kick off this summer with the Fire I course, which will be offered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings with some Saturday training as well.

The basic course focuses on fireground operations, personal protective equipment, basic fire characteristics, safely entering and exiting a burning building, and how to respond to different fire events.

The Fire II course, offered in the fall, will meet on the same schedule, said Lee.

“Where Fire I is foundational work, Fire II starts to focus on the actual hands-on teamwork, how to suppress fires and safely manage the fireground environment,” he said.

The classes will be led by Joplin Fire Department’s Training Chiefs. Class sizes will be kept small – between 15-18 students – allowing for a focus on student safety.

Classes will be taught at the city’s public safety training tower and facility, 5102 Swede Ln, Webb City, Mo.

Built in 2015, the training tower allows instructors to create realistic scenarios for firefighters while the center offers a modern classroom that allows for seated and virtual learning.

Lee said the fire academy partnership between the city and Missouri Southern would be a win-win situation.

“We have the opportunity to impact the city of Joplin by providing educated firefighters so they don’t have to rely on as much in-house training,” he said. “The closest fire training centers to Joplin are three or four hours away, so we also have the opportunity to provide quality fire education to parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.”

“We are excited about this collaboration with MSSU,” said Joplin Fire Chief Jim Furgerson. “By partnering together, we will reestablish interactive fire service training in our region. This program will develop a qualified and strong fire fighter not only for the City of Joplin but for agencies throughout our region”

For more information about the program, contact Ted Lee at 417-625-3020 or visit Missouri Southern’s Emergency Medical Services program page.

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