The statistics are troubling—in a typical year, the following number of emergency responders are struck by vehicles at accident scenes and killed: 12 law enforcement officers; five fire and rescue personnel; 60 towing and recovery professionals and numerous transportation professionals from transportation programs. The good news is that volunteers can help prevent such accidents by being part of a Safety Team Operational Patrol (STOP) team. The Hovland Fire Department and STOP team is offering training to anyone interested in assuming this critical role at crash scenes.
Keck Melby of the Hovland Fire Department and coordinator of the department’s STOP team said his department has seen firsthand how effective traffic control protects all responders and victims.
“We welcome all responders from fire departments, law officials, medical, recovery and transportation,” said Melby. “We also welcome any citizen who has no prior experience responding but would like to help provide safety to responders when they are responding to a traffic incident along one of our roadways.
“Those providing traffic control at an incident have one of the most important jobs at the incident,” he said.
Melby said the Maple Hill Fire Department has also established a STOP team and is looking for a few more members. Melby said it is especially important to establish STOP teams in other areas of Cook County. He encourages community members to join the Hovland Fire Department for the day to complete the training to become a traffic control incident manager and certified Minnesota flagger.
The training is based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard for Traffic Control Incident Management Professional Qualifications.
The training, which is free, will start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 13 at the Hovland Town Hall. The Hovland Fire Department will provide snacks and lunch for participants.
To sign up or for more information, send an e-mail to Kari Peterson at autoshop@boreal.org or call (218) 475- 2766 or keck@boreal.org.
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