The Indiana Fire and Public Safety Academy drew students from 160 different agencies to its MADE@Plainfield training hub for three days of free training for the second annual Winter Fire School on Jan. 31-Feb. 2. More than 450 students attended, doubling the great turnout from the first Winter Fire School in 2024.

Top-notch instructors from nine states (including 29 from Indiana) offered more than 40 sessions over the weekend for firefighters, EMS personnel, emergency managers and law enforcement officers who traveled from all corners of the state to develop their professional skills. Monroe Fire Protection District (Monroe County) sent the most students from one agency (27).

"It could all be summed up by one word: 'huge,'" said Academy Director John Shafer. "One of the coolest things that was rewarding from the data was that we had emergency responders from 61 of the 92 Indiana counties come to this weekend school, which indicates that our venue is perfectly located to making it accessible to any Hoosier fire department that truly wants to come and return home with valuable skills to make their communities safer."

Courses included rail car incident response, rescuing/removing victims, fast-food restaurant fires, decision making, water rescue and supporting responders' mental health after tragedy. Beyond the classroom, instructors gave students hands-on opportunities to learn, such as practicing forcible entry on windows and doors and using an interactive fire pump simulator from Illinois. 

The most attended class was a class on NERIS, the new federal reporting system. It was the first time the NERIS developers presented information in Indiana, and 62 students attended the four-hour session. The first class to reach capacity (for the second year in a row) was Decision Making for Initial Company Officer, taught by Patrick Harper from the National Fire Academy.

The keynote event came Saturday night with a presentation on leadership, teamwork and safety by retired astronaut Mike Mullane, who flew on three NASA space shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Learn more about the Winter Fire School at https://www.in.gov/dhs/training/fire-training/winter-fire-school, and find ongoing trainings at the Educational Opportunities webpage.