Bennet Fire & Rescue gets first responder training to help better serve community

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A program through the University of Nebraska Medical Center is helping provide first responder training to rural fire departments.

Bennet Fire & Rescue got their first responder training on Thursday thanks to the Simulation in Motion program.

This program helps bring a 44-foot-long truck, which provides real-life experience simulators, to rural communities across the state.

Simulation scenarios can range from a heart attack to someone bleeding heavily.

Fire Chief Tim Norris says this is a learning opportunity for his team so they can better serve the community.

“It’s really good training for us, to learn how to do it right and to see what happens when we don’t do it right with someone that is not going to die,” Norris said.

The fire department will be getting an ambulance within the next year and the training will also help provide ambulance-specific scenarios.

“Right now, Lincoln Fire & Rescue comes out and transports, so we are not on the scene very long and we hand it off to someone else,” Norris said.  “So, when we start transporting, we are going to have to take them all the way to the hospital and we are going to have to be doing things longer.”

The program is in its fifth year of operation and is divided into four sections across the state: Omaha, Kearney, Scottsbluff and Norfolk.

Southeast Regional Coordinator Phillip Oelschlager says the priority is to get out to rural communities and deliver this training.

“That’s our whole goal and focus, getting out to these smaller communities,” Oelschlager said.  “The ability to drive this truck and all of the simulator and equipment to their parking lot so they don’t have to travel 2 to 3 hours to a larger city.”

The program is offered at no cost to departments that request it.