Earlier this month, members of the Chadron Volunteer Fire Department attended the Nebraska Wildland Academy at Fort Robinson over a couple weekends.
Seth Peterson with the Nebraska Forest Service (NFS) noted the agency has been in charge of leading the training over the past 13 years, but with the COVID-19 pandemic they were unable to host large events. He credited the Pine Ridge Mutual Aid Association for being able to host this year’s training, Harrison volunteer Fire Chief Slim Reece for leading the effort on getting things organized and Crawford Volunteer Fire Chief Brian Prosser for hosting the event within the walls of his department.
“I was just an instructor this year,” Peterson said. As for the training, he said it began with one red card class and built to some years seeing 12 classes in a nine-day period. The red card, he explained, is a national certification for being able to do wildland firefighting.