Hundreds of people from across the region came to the city to participate in the annual training conference.
With a focus on remembering lives lost during 9/11, FireCon held a memorial stair climb.
Firefighters and trainees attending FireCon have the option to participate in a replication of the 110-flight stair climb that firefighters made on that day, he said.
“It just shows that we never forget. It’s still something that is at the heart of what we do, and we remember the service,” said Dave Paxton, Chief of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue.
“There are a lot of people who changed that day, their lives changed, and it’ll never be the same, and our service changed, and it’s something that shows that people still connect to it.”
Staff and students alike were prepared for the climb during multi-day event, he said.
“It’s great to see that everyone can share their experiences from different communities and different backgrounds,” he said.
“When they leave here, they take so much away back home, and then they share it again with their services back home, so it just continues. It’s awesome.”
Without the help of the Ontario Fire College and rural and remote communities, FireCon’s 9/11 memorial stair climb wouldn’t have been possible, he said.
“The fire college is a good example; they sent over 30 instructors here this week to help support,” he said.
“Departments like Lappe, Neebing, Dryden, and Kenora sent equipment, including pumpers, because it’s always nice to train on the equipment you’re going to use when you go back home,” he said.
Noting that not one community has it all, Paxton said its important for communities in Northwestern Ontario to unite for fire safety.
“As a team, it all comes together and brings all the equipment together in order to train, meet these certifications, and these performance requirements within the job,” he said.
“This event is always nice to have people outside of our department engaged with our members.”
Paxton said staff in the city have been preparing FireCon for the last nine months, he said.
“Staff’s always happy to support this, we’re lucky and fortunate that we have the training center here and we do a lot of our training in-house at the office of the Fire Marshall,” he said.
Chris Rennie, lead instructor for FireCon’s fire investigation program, said he’s thrilled with how far the students have come.
“Coming in, they are actually terrified, and then by today, you can see the smiles on their faces and they’re actually putting all the puzzle pieces together on how to do this together,” he said.
“It’s rewarding to see that they learned how to do it and they know how to do it.”
This year, the five-day-long event happened to line up perfectly for a 9/11 memorial, Paxton said.
“Usually, FireCon was a week earlier, so we thought it’d be fitting to add something as an option in order to recognize the events that happened,” he said.
The event kicked-off on Tuesday, with hundreds of students and educators gathering for a wide range of training and other events at the Thunder Bay Fire Rescue Training Centre, Gary’s Towing, and the Valhalla Hotel and Conference Centre.
原文出處 tbnewswatch
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數百名來自各地區的民眾來到這座城市，參與年度培訓大會。
為了緬懷 9/11 犧牲的生命，FireCon 舉辦了一場紀念性登梯活動。
他表示，參加 FireCon 的消防員和學員可以選擇參與這場登梯活動，重現當天消防員攀爬 110 層樓梯的壯舉。
桑德灣消防救援隊（Thunder Bay Fire Rescue）隊長戴夫·帕克斯頓（Dave Paxton）說：「這表明我們永不遺忘。這仍然是我們工作的核心，我們記得他們的付出。」
「那天，很多人的生活改變了，再也回不去了。我們的消防服務也發生了變化，這場活動證明人們仍然與此息息相關。」
他說，員工和學生都為這場為期多天的活動做好了攀爬的準備。
他說：「很高興看到每個人都能分享來自不同社區和不同背景的經驗。」
「當他們離開這裡時，他們會帶回很多東西，然後再與他們家鄉的消防隊分享，這樣就能延續下去。這真是太棒了。」
他表示，如果沒有安大略省消防學院以及偏遠社區的幫助，FireCon 的 9/11 紀念登梯活動是不可能實現的。
他說：「消防學院就是一個很好的例子，他們本週派了 30 多名教官來這裡提供支援。」
他說：「像拉普（Lappe）、尼賓（Neebing）、德賴登（Dryden）和凱諾拉（Kenora）等消防隊都送來了設備，包括消防車，因為在你們回家時，能在將來會使用的設備上進行訓練總是很棒。」
帕克斯頓指出，沒有一個社區能獨自擁有所有資源，因此對於安大略省西北部的社區來說，團結起來以確保消防安全至關重要。
他說：「作為一個團隊，大家齊心協力，將所有設備集中起來，以進行訓練、達到這些認證並符合工作中的績效要求。」
「很高興有我們消防隊以外的人員與我們的隊員交流互動。」
帕克斯頓說，市裡的工作人員在過去九個月裡一直在為 FireCon 做準備。
他說：「工作人員總是樂於支持這項活動，我們很幸運能擁有這個訓練中心，而且我們在消防局長辦公室進行了很多內部訓練。」
FireCon 消防調查計畫的首席教官克里斯·倫尼（Chris Rennie）表示，他對學生的進步感到非常興奮。
他說：「剛來的時候，他們非常害怕，但到了今天，你可以在他們的臉上看到笑容，他們正在把所有的拼圖組合起來。」
「看到他們學會了如何做到這一點，並且知道如何做到，這很有成就感。」
帕克斯頓說，今年的這場為期五天的活動恰好完美地與 9/11 紀念日對齊。
他說：「通常 FireCon 會提前一週舉行，所以我們認為增設一項活動來紀念當年的事件是很合適的。」
這場活動於週二拉開序幕，數百名學員和教育工作者在桑德灣消防救援訓練中心、蓋瑞拖吊公司（Gary’s Towing）和瓦爾哈拉酒店暨會議中心（Valhalla Hotel and Conference Centre）齊聚一堂，參加各種培訓和其他活動。