Building Teamwork at Rocky Mountain Engine Academy

A BLM engine waits for a military helicopter to land before navigating the Evasive Driving Course. 

In the dynamic and ever-changing fire community, it's good for disparate units to find time to train together with common purpose. The annual Rocky Mountain Engine Academy provides that time. The academy includes students and instructors from BLM and U.S. Forest Service units across Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota.

"It's great to see so many students coming together for a common purpose before fire season," said Kyle Cowan, BLM Wyoming State Fire Management Officer. "These are the people who will be out fighting wildfires all summer and the more training we can do now, the better success we will have in the future."

At the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Wyoming, 32 students recently worked with interagency partners to learn about fire engine operations. Skills taught included driving, pump operations, and working together as a unit so that when fires happen, everyone is ready. The time spent planning and developing the academy is just as valuable as interagency partnership and collaboration.

Students learn about air brakes in the classroom. 

"The academy really is a chance to work together across the board with people we do not see each day, but who we will depend upon when fire season arrives," said Cowan. "That partnership and learning taking place at the academy is building relationships that will benefit us all in the long-term."

Students get hands-on training with pumping and hydraulics.

Story by Carmen Thomason

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Reprinted from BLM Daily, August 10, 2015.