New partnership aims to bring advanced firefighting classes to Yorkton
A new partnership promises to bring advanced, innovative and top-tier instructional classes to Yorkton’s Parkland College in the field of professional firefighting.
The college is partnering with the Saskatchewan Safety Council to teach and facilitate its classes, which will be housed and operated by Parkland College. It is expected to welcome its first fleet for the new program at some point in 2023.
“We’re trying to make it easily accessible for anybody in the province,” said the Safety Council’s Occupational Safety Specialist, Reagan Coppicus.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of people heading south of the border to try to get accredited training. Well, you know what? We can do that right here in Saskatchewan, right close to home, and you don’t need to break the bank trying to find a condo in Southern California, where you can actually do it right here in Saskatchewan.”
Parkland College has housed firefighting courses since 2008. Since then, over 1,000 individual classes have been taught to professional firefighter hopefuls.
Students learn both at the Parkland College campus in Yorkton, along with a specialized training site just outside of Melville.
This partnership will allow them to continue top tier teachings to those who move to the parkland, or those existing already in the community.
Connie Brown is the Manager of Business Development at Parkland College, and she said the college has offered both professional and industrial firefighter training.
“Because of the emerging needs for this specialized training, which requires specialized instructors and equipment. it just makes sense to work together and be able to achieve more by pooling resources, and working together,” Brown said.
The existing program at Parkland College is 14 weeks in length, with students attending a full-time course load.
Eighteen different groups have gone through the existing training, graduating throughout the program’s 14 years of operation.
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