El Dorado County Fire donates training gear to Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy at LTCC

El Dorado County Fire Protection District (EDCFPD) has donated dozens of sets of turnout gear to students at the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy at Lake Tahoe Community College. The firefighting gear will provide realistic training equipment for fire academy students to wear while they learn the hands-on skills necessary to be firefighters.

Even though the donated gear has lived out a full service life with EDCFPD, the college students in the academy will be able to use the turnouts as they train to be firefighters.

EDCFPD purchased new turnout gear for their staff and passed on their retired protective equipment for a renewed life in South Lake Tahoe.

Ten years is the expected lifespan of turnouts for a firefighter, though they can have a significantly shorter lifespan when subject to heat damage, frequent use, moisture barrier damage, laundering and other physical damage. The integrity of this equipment is critical because it protects firefighters from heat, flames, steam and chemical contaminants while they save lives and property. This protective equipment is inspected when damaged or at least annually. When a garment is found to be unrepairable or more than 10 years old, the item is retired.

Although a retired garment cannot be used in immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) environments such as fires they may still remain functional as a training garment. Fire academies, like the Lake Tahoe Community College, have plenty of drills to perform that would ordinarily put excessive strain on and cause damage to protective equipment. Having ‘grinder’ gear, such as the donated items, prevents costly and unnecessary damage to actual in-service protective equipment while academy recruits are completing non-IDLH training.

“The Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy has been relying on donations of training turnouts since its inception,” says Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy Coordinator and Instructor Kileigh Labrado. "With all the training we do in the fire academy, the pants take the most abuse. Without donations of training gear we would not be able to afford "new" turnouts every two years for 25 to 35 cadets. Without these turnouts, we could not outfit the cadets. In order to promote a uniform and professional look within the academy classes having matching turnouts like the ones donated keep cadets consistently outfitted and looking the same. We can outfit our cadets in the same color turnouts. Uniformity is a big deal at the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy."

The El Dorado County Fire Protection District provides fire and EMS services in the communities of Placerville, Shingle Springs, Pollock Pines, Camino, Pleasant Valley, Cool, Coloma, Lotus, Pilot Hill, Pleasant Valley, Oak Hill, Strawberry, and Kyburz.