These individuals from the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Department participated in a structural collapse class. From left are Justin Miller, Shade Kenney, Drew Shilling, Jason Neher, Andrew Calloway, Brent Fifer and Brian Zehring. Aaron Bolinger also participated but is not shown.

WARSAW — Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Department had six of its firefighters, and two lead instructors participate in a structural collapse class in South Bend. The class lasted two weeks giving officers 80 hours of training. The two lead instructors included Aaron Bolinger and Andrew Calloway.

The training consisted of classroom work, hands on participation and practical testing. The hands on portion of the class contained several scenarios to simulate the conditions that could be faced in a building collapse or natural disaster, including breaking concrete in confined spaces and elevated areas, tunneling through downed buildings to locate victims and working with cranes.

In all, 49 members of the M.A.B.A.S. 201 Tactical Rescue Team completed the training. M.A.B.A.S. 201 is Indiana District 2 rescue team. The team, started in 2001, is comprised of 86 members from seven area fire departments: Clay Fire Territory, Mishawaka Fire Department, City of Niles, Mich., Fire Department, Notre Dame Fire Department, Penn Township Fire Department, Southend Fire Department and Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Department.

Calloway presented a slide show of the training during the monthly meeting of the Warsaw-Wayne Township Fire Protection Territory meeting, Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 6.

During the presentation he noted there were 20 instructors for the course over an eight-day period. He pointed out the only other place to receive this type of training is out of state with just the class costing in excess of $2,000 and there are waiting lists.

The training was divided into four sections — building engineering; shoring; breaking, breaching and burning; and lifting and moving. The class final was held in Elkhart where three homes were used in a mock tornado scenario. The group was divided into six teams and a logistic team to get victims out of the damaged homes. Each team rotated out playing roles in different areas.

Calloway stated participants expressed the training was great and enjoyed getting the hands on experience. “A lot of times when you train you don’t get to do it for a while.”

WWFT Fire Chief Mike Wilson also shared a letter from Elkhart FIre Chief Michial Compton, who spent time in the course. Compton commended Bolinger and Callaway on their outstanding job, knowledge base and expertise which the chief felt was invaluable to his success. He noted each one is “a fine instructor that demands the student to master the skill sets he is teaching,” wrote Compton.