AMBOY – For the 26^th time the Amboy Fire Protection District was able to successfully improve the skills of firefighters from Illinois and departments in other states during its Amboy Fire & Extrication School held on Friday and Saturday, April 12-13.

“They did some firefighter training for water supply, engine work which is firefighter attack, search and rescue, auto extrication, cutting edge technology for EMS, PTSD, and took a class on winning the fire round class,” said Amboy Fire Chief Jeff Bryant Sr. “It was impressive. I was leaving a class at Amboy High School and saw all of the different fire department vehicles that were lining East Avenue and the Amboy Depot parking lot. With the emails, phone calls, and comments, I feel the students get a lot out of the class. It’s a testimony to the Fire Protection District, the Firemen’s Association of Amboy, and the area instructors.”

The two-day school hosted 354 registered students from fire departments in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, while the 25 instructors came from Illinois, Wisconsin, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Utah.

Each year the school switches formats from lectures to hands-on participation.

This year was more hands on with the help of Jeff Bryant Jr., who is the president of the Fire Nuggets, an organization made of firefighters who volunteer their time to empower firefighters around the world by helping find or provide high quality training, there were plenty of instructors with plenty of experience.

“They are small town firemen who became big town firemen come back and give their knowledge to the little town departments. They pass it on. It’s about sharing knowledge,” Bryant Sr. said. “I’m very proud of all the guys and gals from Amboy who put the class on. Hopefully the community of Amboy is happy we were able to pull off another school in our small village of Amboy.

“The City of Amboy was 100 percent cooperative of letting us pull this off. We thank them very much.”