The Shelby County Office of Preparedness hosted the local chapter of "Power Squadrons" for a training session at the Emergency Operations Center on August 18, 2011.
Cheryl Yarbro, Office of Preparedness Interim Manager of Operations / Training Officer, organized the sessions that included lectures and hands-on experience. Office of Preparedness Reserves / CERT instructors, Kenneth Brown and Willie Hollinger, served as two of the instructors for the evening.
Fire suppression, fire extinguisher training, flair training and safety, and pyrotechnics were presented.
After the lecture, participants each demonstrated their expertise in the use of an ABC fire extinguisher to put out a large pan fire, followed by the techniques needed to overhaul a fire using a water extinguisher.
As the sun set on the fire field, Lanny Oaks, a Power Squadron member and flair instructor, demonstrated the safest method to launch a Marine-approved aerial flair, a smoke flair, as well as a hand-held flair. The best advice Oaks gave his students is to "hold the flair over the side of the boat downwind, and don't set one off unless you can see or hear another boat!".
Reese Austin, Post Commander and Educational Officer of this group, the Memphis Sail and Power Squadrons, and a member for 13 years, commented that there are nearly 40,000 power squadron members in the United States and its territories. The Memphis Squadron currently has 75 members, 21 of which participated in this training.
The groups' primary mission is to promote boating safety through education. This non-profit organization began in 1914. Their three main objectives remain: community service, continuing education and enjoying the fellowship of boating enthusiasts.
To find out more about the Memphis Sail and Power Squadrons and the United States Power Squadrons (USPS), please contact Reese Austin at raustin1@comcast.net or visit www.usps.org.
