The Rural Firefighters Delivering Agriculture Safety and Health (RF-DASH) program is excited to announce its next training, Saturday, Oct. 25, in Sulphur Springs, Texas.
Doug Simmerman, a recently trained RF-DASH trainer and agricultural safety educator, is partnering with the Hopkins County Fire Department to host the event. RF-DASH Lead Trainer Tim Zehnder will co-lead the course. The training is open to first responders, farmers and other agricultural community stakeholders.
Agriculture is one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation. Building upon research from the National Farm Medicine Center showing that rural emergency responders are highly trusted sources of safety information, RF-DASH — with support from CHS Foundation — trains and assists rural fire departments to advocate for emergency preparedness and hazard reduction.
The RF-DASH program is in its ninth year and has extended to 18 states and five Canadian provinces. The program has directly trained 200 first responders. Many of these individuals have gone on to train members of their own and neighboring departments.
“I’m looking forward to taking RF-DASH to Texas and helping spread the program’s prevention and pre-planning process,” Zehnder said.
“RF-DASH brings the rural fire service and the farm and ranch community together to not only make it safer for the responding department, but to give the farm and ranch community the opportunity to make their places safer for their families and employees.”
The training will include a classroom portion as well as a hands-on component on a local farm. The classroom portion of the training will take place at the Hopkins County Fire Department: 1286 Texas St., Sulphur Springs, TX 75482.
To register, please visit this link and complete the short form: https://redcap.link/rfdash_registration. Registration deadline is Oct. 23.
For more information, visit the event web page, or contact Doug Simmerman (903-450-3642), Tim Zehnder (715-781-0735) or email rfdash@marshfieldresearch.org.
In order to inquire about firefighter training or implementing the program on your farm or ranch, contact tim@exenvironmnetal.com or rfdash@marshfieldresearch.org. Visit www.rfdash.org for more information.
