Future Firefighters and Junior Firefighters learn real world emergency skills
From GVCS,
Genesee Valley Central School hosted a hands-on tractor safety and emergency preparedness event on Saturday, September 20. Students from the GVCSD FFA and Junior Firefighters programs, along with volunteer firefighters from Scio, Belmont, and Angelica, explored real-world farm hazards, learned safety protocols, and practiced emergency response skills.
Miranda Hemphill, Advisor for the GVCS Junior Firefighters program, explained the motivation for the event: “The idea for this was inspired by last year’s mock crash held at GV. We wanted to provide a similar experience for our Ag students and junior firefighters so they would be better aware and prepared in the event of a farm emergency.”
Jim Carrabba, an Agricultural Safety Specialist with the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH), and Erik Merrell, a Safety Educator and local Paramedic, led the morning session. They guided participants through parts of the Rural Firefighters Delivering Agricultural Safety & Health (RF-DASH) training, a program designed to equip rural first responders with agricultural health and safety knowledge to prevent farm injuries and improve emergency preparedness.
In the afternoon, two tractors provided by Bainbridge Farm in Almond were used to demonstrate farm equipment hazards, evaluate tractor safety, and review basic first aid practices.
Carolyn Wright, GVCSD FFA Advisor and Agriculture Technology Teacher, commented, “This event was a valuable opportunity for our students to realize the potential severity of farm accidents and to know the steps to perform a rescue. We are grateful to the trainers and organizations who participated, helping provide our students and community volunteers with hands-on learning and safety experience.”
