Maple Grove Firefighters Resume Training with Rare Opportunity

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s invaluable. A developer getting ready to tear down a house first offered it to Maple Grove for firefighter training. That’s a rare opportunity that Deputy Chief Chris Kummer was only too happy to jump on.

“They get to experience not only fire but smoke, heat, all the normal things we would in a residential fire,” he noted. “They get to use their training and go in and deal with the situation in a way that we can’t simulate any other way.”

With two sessions Wednesday and another Saturday, by the time they’re done, Maple Grove will have cycled about 100 firefighters through the house. And the training is especially important in the COVID-19 era.

“March and April we stopped training face to face, we stopped our hands-on training,” said Kummer.

While the Governor’s updated executive order allowed training to resume in May, firefighters are trying to get caught up.

“It definitely puts a damper into it. It’s something extra that we don’t want to necessarily deal with any more than anybody else,” Kummer said about his team of firefighters.

With two months of training time lost, having the chance to train in a realistic environment is a big bonus.

“It’s something that doesn’t happen very often,” said Kummer. “We’re very lucky to get it.”

The fire department is also hiring part-time firefighters. If you’re interested, click here.

CCX News reporter Delane Cleveland helped contribute to this report.

Brandon Bankston, Reporting

Maple Grove