{"id":41226,"date":"2026-10-16T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=41226"},"modified":"2026-10-16T08:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:00:23","slug":"fire-ops-participants-detail-the-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/16\/fire-ops-participants-detail-the-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Ops participants detail the experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

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

Maybe Decatur Clerk-Treasurer Eran Hackman best summed it up for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn eye-opener for sure,\u201d she said, emphatically, at the recent Decatur City Council meeting, referring to the experience she and two other city officials recently had while participating in Fire Ops 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event offers a first-hand look at the experiences of a firefighter \u2013 a close-up, in-your-face look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Attorney Anne Razo and city council member Jenny Bowers-Schultz also took part in the exercise, as did Agnes Schoch, a member of the Geneva Town Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Anne Razo works on a \u201cpatient\u201d
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The quartet suited up in full firefighter gear and took 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

The exercise is, of course, closely guided by fire and EMS professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowers-Schultz said at the meeting that she has always had great admiration for emergency personnel and thanked those holding and supervising the exercise. \u201cI always felt safe \u2026 even inside the burn chamber where I couldn’t see anything,\u201d she smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an amazing experience,\u201d Razo added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Opening up a vehicle

<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hackman said she always has always had \u201ca lot of respect\u201d for first responders, \u201cand now has even more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAIN INSIGHT: The Fire departments of Adams County host the event, in partnership with Portland’s Local 5356 Firefighters Union, and it was held Sept. 26 at Portland’s training grounds following a meet and greet the night before at the Monroe Fire Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In announcing this year’s Fire Ops 101, Decatur Fire Marshal Tony Lothridge said participants would 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

\u201cThis is a rare opportunity for our community leaders to experience the intense physical and mental demands our firefighters face every day,\u201d he noted. \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

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

Also taking part then were Geneva town officials Tina Booth and Len Burry, along with Thunderbird Products employee John Workinger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decatur Fire Chief Jeff Sheets thanked the Country Butcher in Decatur for sponsoring this year’s exercise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Maybe Decatur Clerk-Treasurer Eran Hackman best summed it up for everyone. \u201cAn eye-opener for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":41228,"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-41226","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\/10\/Ops-group.jpg?fit=1321%2C1310&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41226","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41229,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41226\/revisions\/41229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}