Northern Heat 2019

April 29, 2019

Firefighters from across Alberta will be heading to Peace River this week for the 2019 Northern HEAT Fire Conference. This annual conference, that is organized by the Peace Region Fire Chiefs, brings together some of North America’s leading fire service experts to provide training that is normally inaccessible to northern fire departments. H.E.A.T. stands for Hands on Education and Awareness Training and the 4-day conference has a mix of practical training as well as lecture style presentations. Also included is a Trade show featuring over 25 Fire industry suppliers and service providers.

The conference kicks off on May 1st with two days of Live Fire Training at the Peace River Fire Department’s training site in the West Hill industrial area. Up to 64 students from across Alberta will go through four different stations and experience training in Fire behavior and Flashover, advancing hoselines into buildings for interior fire attacks, firefighter self-rescue from building collapse situations and confined space, vehicle fires, industrial motors and dumpster fires.

Then on May 3rd, up to 130 firefighters will experience presentations from renowned speakers on subjects including Leadership, Teamwork, and Wildland Urban Interface fires in Alberta, at the Chateau Nova Hotel in Peace River. There will also be more hands-on training at the training site by international instructors including: Firefighter Survival and RIC Operations from Frank Nasca of the Livermore / Pleasanton Fire Department, California and a member of the “Nobody Gets Left Behind” Training Group, as well as Vehicle Extrication Tactics from Randy Schmitz of the Calgary Fire Department.

The Trade show at the Chateau Nova Hotel, which runs Friday May 3rd from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm and Saturday May 4th  from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm is open to the public with no entry fee.

“So there will be quite a few firefighters in town over the next few days” said Tim Harris, Peace River Fire Chief, “please welcome them to Peace River and thank them for the work they do in keeping all our communities safe”.