By Linda Greer
news@joplinglobe.com
NOEL, Mo. — By the first of the year, the Noel Fire Department will be ready to open a firefighting academy, according to the city’s fire chief.
“We’re shooting for January,” Chief Brandon Barrett said this past week.
In September, the Noel Board of Aldermen approved Barrett’s request to send three emergency services workers to receive training to become instructors. After the training, the instructors at the Noel Firefighting Academy will be state certified and can offer training to others in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, to be an emergency medical technician, a first responder or in Firefighting 1 and 2.
At a total cost of around $1,000, the board agreed that some private donations or grants would be needed to pay the expenses of the three instructors. The expense is mostly in motel fees, Barrett said.
On Oct. 9, Barrett told the board that Alderman John Lafley, a former full-time Modesto, Calif., firefighter, paid about $350 for the first of the three classes to be an instructor. The October class to train a second instructor will cost $195, Barrett said.
“I’ll belly up and find the money,” Mayor Paul Gardner said.
Barrett said that would leave only the November class for the third instructor, at around $500, to be paid.
The cost of the classes varies with the length, location and topic.
Gardner said the city also would find the money somehow to pay for the final class, which would then enable Noel to open its firefighting academy for area residents, who must now drive to Crowder College in Neosho or Joplin for training, Barrett said.
Most ambulance workers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians must be trained before they can even apply for work, Barrett said.
“Having an academy in Noel will give us better emergency services in the area,” Barrett said.
Want to go?
The average cost of tuition to attend the firefighting academy in Noel will likely be about $150, Noel Fire Chief Brandon Barrett said. The intention to offer classes in Noel is not to make money for the city, but to enable more people to be trained in emergency services.
“A lot of people here cannot afford to spend a lot of money on classes or to drive to Joplin for class,” Barrett said.
