Annually 100 deaths per year in the United States are reported within the fire service. Trainings and classes are repeatedly conducted as safety is a top priority. Recently, Monmouth Fire Captain Craig Cozadd attended an Instant Safety Command class in Peoria that touched on making a fire scene safer:
“They are really trying to figure out different ways to make the fire scene safer because it is inherently a dangerous job. The role of a safety officer is to tie in with fire command and work the scene and look for mitigations and problems that may occur that the command can’t see. Also, working in conjunction with them in control of the scene and can recognize these hazards and try to stop and mitigate them before they happen. That is their main job, just making sure all the firefighters on scene are always safe, as safe as they can be, doing what they do and looking for those problems. It was a really good class.”
Additionally, Firefighter Paul Mangieri has graduated from the Illinois Fire Service Institute Academy and joined the Monmouth Fire Department.
**Written by WMOI/WRAM Director of Communications Kelsey Crain**
