6B Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Bulletin, Record, Progressive, Reporter
Departments meet n driving'requirements
Quincy firefighters practice saf e driving with a large water tender during a driving and pumping
drill.
Fire Capt. Chad Castagnetti, of Plumas Eureka fire,
maneuvers through part of the safe driving course
in State Fire Training Driver Operator 1A.
INSIDE THE
FIKEHOUSE
TOM FORSTER
Assistant Fire Chief
Plumas Eureka Fire Department
Have you ever wondered
what it takes to drive a big
fire engine? What the train-
ing and licensing would be
like? Fire engines are very
heavy, and driving to emer-
gencies with red lights and
sirens requires special skills.
The state has recently
changed the firefighter
licensing requirements
through the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Firefighters wer pre- :
viously required to meet
commercial truck driver
licensing requirements. A
Class C license is what most
people have for cars and
pickups, and is the most
basic motor vehicle'license.
A Class B license generally
covers two-axle trucks weigh-
ing over 26,000 pounds, and
three-axle trucks• The Class
A license generally covers
almost everything bigger, in-
cluding large tractor-trailers.
Additional testing is required
for Class A and B licenses in
the form of written exams,
medical exams and driving
tests.
In the recent past fire
engine drivers, often called
firefighter engineers, were
required to have at least a
Class B "fire fighter restricted"
license endorsement• Unfortu-
nately the commercial dri-
ving course testing for this
winot offered at the Quincy
DMV offic6:'6r'ifi most rural
counties. This meant that
Plumas County fire depart-
ments were required to work
through the Quincy Fire
Protection District (QFPD)
commercial testing program,
or complete driving testing
in Redding or Sacramento.
QFPD ran what was the only
fire department "employer"
commercial testing program
around for many years, in
part becausof the complex
program requirements. They
had generously offered help
to the other departments in
the county with the licensing
process.
"Without Quincy's pro-
gram we would have really
been hurting, since taking a
fire engine to Redding or
Sacramento is a long haul
and very expensive in terms
of time and fuel," said
Plumas Eureka Chief Gary
Castagnetti, vice president
of the Plumas County Fire
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FEATHER RIVER
COLLEGE
• • small school ... BIG Education/
Chiefs Association (PCFCA).
"While some of us have the
Class A or B.because of our
jobs, most volunteer fire-
fighters do not."
PCFCA president and
Graeagle chief Ed Ward
recently attended a one-day
seminar held in Los Bands on
the DMV changes for fire de-
partments. The seminar was
sponsored by the California
State Firefighters Associa-
tion, and included represen-
tatives from the DMV and the
California Highway Patrol
(CHP). "The biggest surprise
for me was learning that there
was no exemption for fire-
fighters to drive an engine to
an emergency, as we had all
been told through word-of-
mouth for many years," said
Ward.
"We believed that it was
OK to drive to a fire, but not
back to the station after the
emergency was over. We'd
Photos by Maureen Forster
have to find a licensed driver
to do that. CHP and DMV
explained this supposed
exemption was a myth,
especially since emergency
driving is even more
dangerous than regular
driving."
The new requirements
allow firefighters to drive
all fire engines with a Class C
license, but only after com-
pleting a 40-hpur course,
passing specihl firefighter
written tests and having a
DMV-approved medical exam
regularly. Fire departments
have a choice of using the
40-hour State Fire Training
Driver Operator 1A course,
or developingequivalent
training in-h0use•Each stu-
dent driver must also log 14
hours of driving practice
with an instrUctor.
Fire departnent instruc-
tors must hae at least a
commercial Glass B license,
"I
and additional requirements
will be established through
the PCFCA as has been done
in other counties. "In some
ways the new program makes
it easier, and in some ways it
is harder/' said Castagnetti.
"For.example, we need to
make sure we have enough
firefighters who will main-
tain Class B (or A) licenses to
serve as instructors. We also
need to host the State Driver
Operator 1A course at least
annually."
Ward led a training class
March 19 in Quincy for other
Plumas County fire depart-
ments. "We are confident we
will be able to meet these new
challenges by working to-
gether," said Ward. "Our goal
is to assure everyone's safety
including the public, and
to have enough properly
licensed drivers to respond to
all emergenc!e§ in a timelY
manner." -
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