McALESTER —
At the 12th annual Bob Smith Wildland Firefighting Training more than 350 volunteer firefighters from 104 fire departments converged upon the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant March 3-4 to learn how to handle nature’s untamed beast—wild fire. Ninety percent of all Oklahoma firefighters are volunteers, according to the Council on Firefighter Training.
The training was sponsored by the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Fire Service Training department. Instructors included staff from OSU, Oklahoma and U.S. Forestry Services, Oklahoma Homeland Security Incident Management Team and McAAP’s firefighters. Oklahoma is only one of two states offering this type of training, according to Paddy Metcalf, Oklahoma State University fire fighter coordinator.
See more in the print edition of the News-Capital.




