On Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10, more than 125 firefighters from 25 agencies around the Willamette Valley and Portland metro area will come together to participate in the 12th annual Metro Advanced Wildland School (MAWS).
The group training exercise is designed to train structural firefighters on wildland firefighting techniques.
According to Gert Zoutendijk, the Fire Marshal for Lake Oswego Fire Department, the training will supply firefighters with new techniques to combat fires, techniques will include the use of hand tools, radio communications with a helicopter doing water drops, triaging homes, and extinguishing controlled live fire.
Zoutendijk says that,
This training is valuable to help prepare them for responses in their own fire jurisdiction and as part of the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s incident management team program.