MONROE - A meeting room full of volunteer firefighters might not seem like a good way to speed response times and spread emergency resources, but the training they received Thursday is helping area fire safety, according to area fire department officials.
Personnel from Green and Lafayette counties, including Darlington, South Wayne, Belleville, Woodford, Juda and Monroe, which participate in the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), met at Monroe's fire station for a presentation from Keith Tveit, Wisconsin Emergency Management service coordinator. They practiced interacting with dispatchers to organize emergency responses.
MABAS is an emergency response system that helps organize multiple departments' resources, such as personnel, ambulances and pump trucks, said Monroe Fire Lt. Al Rufer, president of MABAS Division 105.
Prior to 2007, when Green County joined MABAS, fire calls were made to different departments, which then would call in resources as needed until the emergency was contained, he said.
"Eventually you ended up with whatever resources needed to win," Rufer said.
That could mean requesting equipment you might not need, in addition to increasing response times.
The MABAS system is somewhat like a recipe for disaster responses. Member departments determine different response zones, then decide what equipment would be needed to fight fires in certain buildings, or respond to a particular medical emergency, Rufer said.
Once the zones and response needs are determined, descriptions are printed on cards and given to dispatchers and fire personnel. When emergency response is called for, the fire personnel can tell the dispatcher to page a simple number and the predetermined amount of response vehicles and personnel will be broadcast to different departments, Rufer said.
"This (card) is going to be labeled health care, so what do we need to respond to a health care emergency?" he said, as an example. "It's not just the equipment, but we pre-plan where the equipment is going to come from and in what order it is going."
The program does more than reduce waste and increase response time, Juda Fire Chief Steve Isely said. It also allows smaller departments like his - 40 members - to keep some resources at their stations when a disaster strikes that requires help from multiple departments.
"You're not depleting your neighborhood departments," he said.
The training is the first in Green County, and the first in 18 months for the area, Rufer said.
MABAS training is crucial, Isely said, because departments need to know what calls to make in an emergency to get the proper equipment to the scene.
"This keeps your mind active when we get a MABAS call," he said.
Personnel from Green and Lafayette counties, including Darlington, South Wayne, Belleville, Woodford, Juda and Monroe, which participate in the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), met at Monroe's fire station for a presentation from Keith Tveit, Wisconsin Emergency Management service coordinator. They practiced interacting with dispatchers to organize emergency responses.
MABAS is an emergency response system that helps organize multiple departments' resources, such as personnel, ambulances and pump trucks, said Monroe Fire Lt. Al Rufer, president of MABAS Division 105.
Prior to 2007, when Green County joined MABAS, fire calls were made to different departments, which then would call in resources as needed until the emergency was contained, he said.
"Eventually you ended up with whatever resources needed to win," Rufer said.
That could mean requesting equipment you might not need, in addition to increasing response times.
The MABAS system is somewhat like a recipe for disaster responses. Member departments determine different response zones, then decide what equipment would be needed to fight fires in certain buildings, or respond to a particular medical emergency, Rufer said.
Once the zones and response needs are determined, descriptions are printed on cards and given to dispatchers and fire personnel. When emergency response is called for, the fire personnel can tell the dispatcher to page a simple number and the predetermined amount of response vehicles and personnel will be broadcast to different departments, Rufer said.
"This (card) is going to be labeled health care, so what do we need to respond to a health care emergency?" he said, as an example. "It's not just the equipment, but we pre-plan where the equipment is going to come from and in what order it is going."
The program does more than reduce waste and increase response time, Juda Fire Chief Steve Isely said. It also allows smaller departments like his - 40 members - to keep some resources at their stations when a disaster strikes that requires help from multiple departments.
"You're not depleting your neighborhood departments," he said.
The training is the first in Green County, and the first in 18 months for the area, Rufer said.
MABAS training is crucial, Isely said, because departments need to know what calls to make in an emergency to get the proper equipment to the scene.
"This keeps your mind active when we get a MABAS call," he said.