{"id":39481,"date":"2026-09-09T07:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=39481"},"modified":"2026-09-09T07:33:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:33:39","slug":"fire-ops-101-you-can-be-the-firefighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/fire-ops-101-you-can-be-the-firefighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Ops 101: You can be the firefighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fire departments of Adams County have announced plans for the second Fire Ops 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, done in partnership with Portland’s Local 5356 Firefighters Union, will be held Sept. 25-26 at the Monroe Fire Department and Portland’s training grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program offers community leaders, elected officials, and media representatives a first-hand look at what it takes to be a firefighter, a news release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants suit up in full gear and take part in simulated fire and rescue scenarios, including: entering smoke-filled structures, extinguishing fires, performing vehicle extrication, and responding to medical emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Last year’s Fire Ops 101; Jamie Gephart and Abby Wilder at left.
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of that is done, of course, under the guidance of seasoned fire and EMS professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a rare opportunity for our community leaders to experience the intense physical and mental demands our firefighters face every day, said Tony Lothridge, the Decatur Fire Department’s fire marshal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstanding these challenges helps build stronger support for public safety initiatives and the critical resources needed to protect our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lothridge said participants will gain insight into the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The complexity and danger of firefighting and emergency response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The importance of proper staffing, training and equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The physical demands and occupational hazards firefighters face daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEET & GREET: The event will begin with a \u201cmeet & greet\u201d at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, at the Monroe Fire Department, 233 Tower Dr. in Monroe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone interested in participating in the program should attend what will be, essentially, a signup period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hands-on experience then will be come the next day, 7:30 a.m.to<\/a> 2 p.m., in Portland behind Moser Engineering, 102 Perfomance Dr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program was held in this area for the first time last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abby Wilder, a member of Decatur City Council, and Jamie Gephart, Decatur\u2019s community coordinator, participated in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geneva town officials Tina Booth and Len Burry, along with Thunderbird Products employee John Workinger, also were part of the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe day was incredible,\u201d Wilder said later. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe all the things I got to experience and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams County fire departments are located in Decatur, Preble, Monroe, Berne and Geneva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com The Fire departments of Adams County have announced plans for the second Fire Ops<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-39481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Fire-Ops.webp?fit=1536%2C1429&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39483,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39481\/revisions\/39483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}