Earlier this week I took a quick trip down to Bowling Green in Northwest Ohio to teach my New Vehicle Technology class at the State Fire School at Bowling Green State University. I stopped off at the hotel to meet up with the Heavy Rescue Class Instructors and quickly realized that the Instructors are not just some of the top instructors in Ohio but heavy hitters from Indiana, New York, and Florida to name a few. When you see Mike Ciampo, Ron Smith, JJ Cassetta, it has the flavor of a mini FDIC.

After setting up in the classroom we headed over for the opening ceremonies. A large family was seated in the front row, it was the family of Ralph Zimmerman. Zimmerman volunteered in the fire service for 63 and was active up to his death in 2014. In addition, Zimmerman is credited with significant contributions to the fire service and was the longest serving chief of the Christianburg Volunteer Fire Department. Zimmerman was active for 63 of the department’s 66 year history. With 5 of his 7 kids getting into the family business in fire service his passion must have rubbed off.

The classroom presentation went great and after lunch a gasoline tanker was brought for a quick overview of gasoline tankers. The driver went over many features of the trailer that would help rescuers on scene of an accident that involved a gasoline tanker.