As a progressive combination (volunteer + career) department, the West Grove Fire Company has always had a strong commitment to continuous training. That commitment is what drives how first responders arrive prepared, capable and confident to serve in nearly any emergency, even as the world around us is changing.

Evidence of this commitment can be found in 3,000 hours of logged training in the past year. Those training sessions, which span fire, rescue and EMS skills, include in-house, county, state-level and national training programs.

Underpinning the large number of training hours last year was a commitment from leadership through the ranks to utilize on-station duty crew time as a platform for training -- not only are there crews available for immediate response, those crews can then focus on a weekly-training topic, or simply commit to practicing common skills, like hose deployment. These duty crew trainings run along side regular Monday night drills held at the stations, and company-wide trainings.

Twice in 2024, the fire company held live structural burn sessions all day at the county-level training facilities, including one session with our partners from the Avondale Fire Company. In fact, we held five combined mutual-aid trainings with neighboring companies including reviewing rural water supply, vehicle extrications, and arrival assignments for box alarms. And, to keep our driver/operators proficient, a pumps refresher training was held.

Training doesn't stop with group activities. Many of our individual first responders committed to individual training to gain valuable skills or advance their training credentials. For example, three volunteers - Tyler Gent, Chris Miller, and Hayden Adair -- completed Firefighter 1 classes in 2024, and we had members achieve certifications in vehicle rescue technician, fire instructor 2, fire officer, emergency vehicle operations, water supply officer and EMT (emergency medical technician).

Several first responders went to outside training classes, with four attending trainings at the FDIC Conference in Indianapolis, three officers to VCOS officers symposium in Clearwater, FL, and three members went to the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD. And, this past year, the WGFC invited a national speaker -- Chief Frank Leeb -- formerly with the FDNY to present at a WGFC training event attended by many southern Chester County departments.

Closer to home, our training program in 2024 benefited from the donation of a house under renovation in West Grove borough. Over several weeks, the fire company had access to the house and ran drills to practice pulling handlines, throwing ladders, victim searches, and firefighter survival techniques in a real-world residential structure.

"We've always committed to training at the WGFC, but what make us so proud is the commitment of our first responders to put in the time to continuously learn and improve so we can provide the best response to the residents and businesses of our community," said Kevin Sweeney, Assistant Fire Chief, WGFC, who oversaw the 2024 training program. "Look for us to go even further with training in 2025."