More than 850 firefighters and instructors participated in the 2016 Minnesota Wildfire Academy held at Itasca Community College in Grand Rapids June 6-10.
Among them were 17 people from Cook County including about 12 employees from the Superior National Forest Tofte Ranger District and five employees from the Grand Portage Tribal Government.
They took part in seven different classes and field activities.
The event included display of a fully restored 1928 Model AA Ford truck replicating the fire trucks and equipment used during that era. Other features of this year’s academy in addition to the 34 courses and field exercises were a weather balloon demonstration, a fire behavior and sawyer (saw) class. The keynote speaker, Dr. Charlie Palmer, addressed the group about human factors on the fireline.
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