Wooster Area Safety Council to tour WCFRA facility

The Wooster Area Safety Council will meet Wednesday, Sept. 20 to tour and learn more about how the Wayne County Fire & Rescue Association Regional Training Facility is used to train first responders in the area.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the oil and gas area, which is used to host classes in partnership with the Ohio Natural Energy Institute; watch the Wooster Division of Fire complete one of its training scenarios at the Kirila Burn Building; tour the grain bin building to see the new farm rescue training area; and tour the survival maze, which is used to build the confidence of new firefighters as they maneuver through obstacles with limited or no vision, similar to an actual fire.

WASC will hear from a variety of staff members throughout the session:

—Bob Ballentine, retired chief from Orrville Fire Department, who was the first full-time chief for Orrville and is a fire instructor at the training facility.

—Ron Browning, a retired chief from Chippewa Township in Wayne County and a fire instructor and fire safety inspector instructor who also assists in the EMS classes.

—Mark DelPropost, a retired chief from Wooster Township who, although no longer is a fire instructor, is actively involved in the training facility’s day-to-day operations.

—Patty Glessner, an advanced EMT and an EMS instructor for the facility and also the clinical coordinator for the EMT and advanced EMT courses where she coordinates the students ride time with local fire department squads and clinical time students need at local hospital emergency departments.

—Dick Glessner, a past chief of the Sterling Fire District and currently the assistant director of the training facility. He also is a fire instructor and assists with EMS classes.

The executive director is Assistant Chief Nathan Murphy from Wooster Division of Fire, and he will be on the grounds training at the Kirila Burn Building.

The Wayne County Fire & Rescue Association Regional Training Facility got its start in 1987 when a group of WCFRA firefighters attended a conference in Cincinnati. They returned wanting to improve local fire training and to have a facility where area fire departments could send members to train with equipment, props and buildings that would qualify as a first-rate fire training program.

In 1990 that all started to come together when the association was offered a piece of land near Apple Creek for the price of $1. The WCRTF was officially in operation in 1992 when the survival maze was completed. Today, the facility spans 60 acres and contains 12 buildings used for training and storage.

Ballentine, DelPropost, Dick Glessner and Murphy are on the board that governs the training facility. Other board members include Chief Dallas Terrell from Wooster Township FD, Chief Josh Martell from South Central Fire District in Fredericksburg, Chief Brandon Smith from Canaan Township FD and Lt. Kristen Priest Brockway from Wooster Division of Fire.