The West Plains will soon have a host of new firefighters to serve on the area’s four fire departments, and for the first time, all are being trained together in one location.
Firefighter recruits from Airway Heights, Cheney, Spokane County Fire District 10 are all learning the firefighting trade with recruits from Spokane County Fire District 3 at its training facility on Presley Drive in Cheney. They are undertaking a major commitment: three months of intensive evening and weekend training at the West Plains Recruit Academy.
District 3 Chief Cody Rohrbach said there are multiple benefits to co-training across, including breeding familiarity and trust between departments and integrating the way each department approaches a fire.