The wind turbine, a North Kingstown landmark, has become a training venue for Warwick firefighters in addition to the Channel 10 antenna tower and the billboard near the Warwick Sewer Authority.
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The wind turbine, a North Kingstown landmark, has become a training venue for Warwick firefighters in addition to the Channel 10 antenna tower and the billboard near the Warwick Sewer Authority.
With a $1 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, firefighters are being trained to extricate people trapped in confined or difficult to reach places, such as at the top of the 350-foot wind turbine tower. In the case of the North Kingstown wind turbine, firefighters have been rappelling from a porthole in the side of the generator housing as part of the SCT or structural collapse training. While accidents within a wind turbine are hardly common, Fire Chief James McLaughlin expects the possibilities of them occurring will increase with proliferation of the turbines. He said as many as 30 more turbines are planned in the state in the next year.
In addition to covering the cost of the training including the overtime so the department can fill for those training, the grant pays for trainers and equipment. A total of 36 firefighters are being trained under the direction of special hazards Captain Gary Oatley. This will provide each of the department’s four platoons nine personnel with the added skills throughout the department stations at all times. McLaughlin pointed out that these Warwick firefighters would also be on standby to assist in “low occurrence high risk accidents” in other communities.
Training started in January and will be completed by the end of this month. McLaughlin thanked individuals and businesses that have assisted by providing use of their facilities, such as the North Kingstown turbine, for training purposes. “Without them it wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.
Text and photos by John Howell
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