Wildland medical provider course training firefighters at remote sites

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Firefighters across Texas are coming to train in one of the first regional wildland medical provider classes in the state.

Firefighters from Amarillo, Randall County, Potter County, Boerne, Brownwood, Flower Mound and more have made the trip for these classes at the High Plains Retreat Center in Canyon.

The program Texas firefighters are currently working under is in collaboration with the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force (EMTF) and Texas A&M Forest Service.

Classes include beginning courses in communication to real-life scenario training in the remote terrains.

"We're here to train our firefighters how to treat and extract patients from remote environments at our wildfire scenes. A lot of these things are happening miles and miles from hospitals, cities and definitive care," said Battalion Chief Andy Mettham, Amarillo Fire Department.

These classes will provide training with the equipment and utility vehicles to provide care to those who may be hours away from the nearest hospitals that are difficult to get to.

The 100 Club of the Texas Panhandle and Amarillo National Bank donated a UTV to the Amarillo Fire Department last spring and firefighters are able to use it for training now that it has been fully equipped.

"Our goal is to take care of the firefighters that are operating. If they become sick or injured we are the crews that will take care of them and get them back in operation," said Bryan Van Meter, medical unit leader for the wildland firefighting program.

These crews will also provide life-saving care to the firefighters who may be hurt in emergency situations.

"We, unfortunately, learned lessons that are written in blood. We have had firefighters' fatalities in the wildland environment in Texas and this wildland fire support package through EMTF came about because of those," said Van Meter.

This is the first training in the area. Officials say they wanted to start small, but hope to expand into next year.

The classes will continue throughout the week.