Vermilion Parish fire training center up, running

In the past, firefighters in Vermilion Parish had to leave the parish to have access to a training facility.
As of this week, that level of training can be done right here in the parish.
Construction on the Vermilion Parish Police Jury’s fire training building on West Port Street in Abbeville, next to the LSU AgCenter extension office, has been completed. All 15 fire departments in the parish will have access to the facility. Multiple departments have utilized the building recently, including the Abbeville Fire Department, the Kaplan Fire Department and the 7th Ward Volunteer Fire Department.
“It’s been what we hoped it would be and more,” Abbeville Fire Chief Jude Mire said Wednesday morning. “There’s so many different drills and things we can do. The younger guys can get some actual hands-on experience.”
Featuring a smoke room, prop room, and a three-story tower, this will be a first-of-its-kind opportunity for firefighters to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios.
“We’ve never had something where we can train in all different stuff,” Mire said. “Now, we do. There are multiple things that we can do. This morning, they were doing search-and-rescue drills. The crews were going in with the smoke machine. You couldn’t see anything, but they would go in and search for the prop.”
Doris Langlinais, the fire coordinator for the police jury, said this is an enormous step for the parish. Langlinais also serves as the chief of the 7th Ward Volunteer Fire Department and is a member of the Abbeville Fire Department.
“It’s something that has been needed in Vermilion Parish for decades,” Langlinais said. “This is a place for Vermilion Parish firefighters to get hands-on training without having to leave Vermilion Parish to go to training facilities in other parishes.”
With many of the parish’s firefighters being volunteers, saving time on travel is crucial.
“This is an opportunity for them to stay close to their area,” Langlinais said, “without being too far outside their response area.”
From those who have used it, the response has been positive.
“The guys love it,” Mire said. “It’s so much more realistic training than we had before.”
Mire thanked the members of the police jury for taking this step.
“We’re extremely thankful to the jury,” Mire said. “We’ve been after this for a long time. They saw our vision and were able to make it happen.”
The police jury budgeted $686,000 for the project. Langlinais said that it did come in under that budget. Forgoing the purchase of two fire trucks helped fund the project. Each year, the police jury, which collects the tax, purchases a fire truck or a department on a rotating basis.
“They are taking two years of trucks to help cover this project,” Langlinais said. “I know some may look at it like we’re losing two trucks, but with what we are gaining with this facility, it is so valuable.
“This will help train those men and women who are on the trucks.”
While This training will help improve fire insurance rating, parishwide, and it will also help create more cohesion among the departments.
“The more training we do,” Mire said, “the better the fire rating will be. We work with Leblanc, Maurice and Erath. Their guys and my guys only meet up if we’re at a structure fire. Now, we can have multiple departments that work and train together. We’ll know what everyone can do when we make this split-second decision, and guys will know they have each other’s backs.”
Langlinais agreed.
“It’s not uncommon to go to a building fire,” Langlinais said, “and there be three or four different departments there. This will help us better work together when there is an emergency.”
Departments will be able to book and schedule time at the facility. Several parish departments have already been active at the training center this week. That’s just the beginning of what this will mean for firefighters in the parish.
“The police jury purchased something that met our needs,” Langlinais said. “For the next few decades, this is something that fire departments will benefit from. We have a place to get some realistic, hands-on training. We will be able to get the training hours from this facility that will help the parish’s fire insurance rating.
“This is a huge win for us.”