Local Vol. Fire Company Trains on Gas

Volunteer firefighters from Peter’s township and Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania crews were called to the township’s rec. center this week only to find out they were part of a training drill. “We call this a blind exercise,” said Columbia gas spokesperson Tom Cuddy, “There were immediately informed that this was an exercise and then told handle it as though it were a real live incident.”

The company holds 4-5 of the drills every year with local fire crews. “It’s essential the firefighters have the knowledge skills and equipment to safely respond to a natural gas incident because often they are the first responders to the scene,” said Cuddy.

The company offers classroom training as well. We are usually very pleased with how well the volunteer firefighters perform, said Cuddy. However, he stressed that the training is not the same training as firefighters will need to respond to accidents at gas wells.