Wethersfield, Ct. (Wfsb) – More and more Connecticut fire brigades are being trained for the use of UTVs.
In short, for supply tasks you are a kind of off-road vehicle that could wear several passengers and heavier loads.
After the loss of a Wethersfield Volunteer Firefighter in 2024, which died during the operation of a UTV, the I-Team took a look at the state's training program.
Every day you will find Seth Roberts behind the wheel of a UTV.
It is his job. Roberts heads the CT Fire Academy's UTV security program.
“What I have seen over the years is that more and more departments are used as part of their fleet and will be overlooked as an apparatus. We have to treat it the same way as the fire engine, the latter truck, the ambulance,” says Roberts. “We have a very rigid process when we qualify a driver on a piece of apparatus.”
So Roberts created a rigid UTV training process for Connecticut First Responder.
“We found that this was a necessary program based on the number of UTVs that are throughout the state and have no high -quality training for these departments,” says PJ Norwood, training manager of the CT Fire Academy.
The program began last summer, only weeks before the fireman of Wethersfield, Robert Shellevich Senior, died in October 2024 after the UTV, which he drove when he fought against a brush fire.
The CT Department of Department of OSHA carried out an investigation after the accident.
According to her final report, it began to slide on loose slates on a slope while driving on the UTV and rolling from one side to the other.
Investigators say that two firefighters sitting on the oppression unit were thrown out of the UTV. Two others who were sitting in the taxi were also thrown around.
The city of Wethersfield paid a penalty of $ 640 because it “could not make sure that the employees followed the instructions of the manufacturers according to the Ministry of Labor.
Since then, the fire brigade has issued new rules for the use of UTV, including the mandatory use of helmets and seat belts, and limited the number of passengers at a certain point in time.
Similar to firefighters learn at the academy.
“The first part and the majority is to only use the thinking process and to change the thinking process that it is a piece of apparatus and no leisure vehicle,” says Roberts. “We have set up a bowling course on the sidewalk so that we can understand how the machine works. We talk about climbing obstacles, rapprochement with obstacles and some preliminary planning to ensure that the operators have an understanding of what they should do if they concentrate in different types of obstacles. – helmets.”
Since the beginning of the program, we have carried out 17 classes and a little more than 200 firefighters, “says Norwood.
The next UTV training class is planned for the end of the month. The academy says that the departments can apply for training information.
Here is a copy of the new rules that Wethersfield Fire Department presented to the CT Dol Osha.
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