Firefighters across Texas gather in Rusk County for extensive training

RUSK COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Firefighters from Texas spent the weekend training in East Texas in order to serve their citizens better.

As part of emergency preparedness month, firefighters from across Texas gathered at Rusk county ESD-1 for training.

"Rusk county firefighters association put together a training on tender operations. Moving water from from hydrants , static water sources, ponds , pools. to a fire location," says Rusk county fire marshal Patrick Dooley.

While it might sound rudimentary, there are sometimes challenges in getting water to a fire.

"Our firefighters understand the need to be able to utilize static water sources out in the county rural water areas, because we don't have municipal water sources like the cities have. We have to have ways to get it to the fire. We had 6 -to 7 tenders sitting out there that were shuttling water out of lake forest park in Henderson," Dooley says.

Important because conditions remain prime for wildfires, with late September temperatures being in the high 90′s, and lots of dry fuels remaining.

"We have fires. whether it be wildland fires, structure fire, car fire, some sort of fire. what puts fire out is copious amounts of water. Your front line engines will show up with 900 or a thousand gallons of water, but depending on your fuel load and size, that is probably not going to be enough," the fire marshal says

Which is why this training is essential for firefighters and property owners.

"We're going to continue to help and train theses guys because we know they want to help their community," says Dooley.

Firefighters from as far away as the 'hill country' participated in the training.