Crisp County Fire and Rescue

Norbord

Stella-Jones

By Joe Joe Wright

You can never invest too much money in training!  I spent a great deal of my youthful years in training.  Whether it was in law enforcement, fire brigade, high angle-confined space rescue, medical first responder, or incident command, much of it is very familiar to me, and I might add very dear to me as well.

I get a great sense of civic pride when I see our fire departments and law enforcement and medical personal training for different types of emergencies. Then when you throw in two of our major industrial employers who want to invest money in saving lives, well then, I just get all goose pimply.  Norbord and Stella-Jones Cordele divisions have made a conscientious decision to join forces with our first responders to insure that they have the best equipment and training money can buy.  The latest investment by these two companies approaches the $17,000.00 mark.  Norbord and Stella-Jones fully funded this latest training exercise along with buying some top-grade rescue equipment that is second to none.

One of Cordele’s own left us some twenty years ago and joined the Griffin Fire Department. Darrell Spradley had served with the City of Cordele Fire Department for about ten years before heading north.  Now after a 30-plus-year career in Fire and Rescue, he goes from town to town training fireman in complicated scenarios, like confined space rescue and numerous other first responder issues. Spradley’s company RIGHT Training and Consulting is an acronym.  RIGHT – which stands for Regulatory, Industrial, Governmental, Hazardous Materials, and Technical Rescue.

Keith Blanton the Environmental, Health and Safety Manager at Norbord said, “We are very pleased to be apart of this most worthwhile community endeavor.  It not only benefits Norbord and Stella Jones but the entire community as a whole.”

Josh Stevenson who serves as Environmental Health and Safety Manager at  Stella-Jones commented that, “This kind of training benefits everyone, and we are happy to help in this endeavor.”

In the photos on this page, the people of the community are getting a look at an industrial setting.  Some people have never been on the grounds of places like Norbord.

Whenever a company enters into what is commonly called an “upset” condition, they have protocols in place, the first of which is the preservation of life. The second is safety of the environment, and then the protection of property.  “Upset” conditions often times bring on emergency’s and sometimes those emergency’s are life threatening.  It is at times like that the training of Norbord and Stella-Jones personnel, along with the Fire and Rescue, EMT’s, and Law Enforcement, become paramount.

“I want to thank Norbord and Stella-Jones for their generous donations to Crisp County. Their monetary help in these endeavors will save lives,” said Chief Jonathan Windham.

The training these men went through is essential in their ability to quickly and safely remove an injured person from either a high platform or extremely small spaces.  Members of the plant’s staff and all of the Crisp County Fire and Rescue participated in this valuable training.

Crisp County Fire and Rescue with years of service. Not in order. Chief Jonathan Windham (24), Asst. Chief Mike Postell (29), Captain John Hauesler (32), Shawn Mcnulty (24), Dale Parker (28), Kennith Raburn (4), Captain Russel Ayotte (18), Shannon Chapa (1), Jeremy Law (1), Timmy Holt (10), Bruce Lesieur (2), Monty Watson ( 13), Captain Marty Black (13), Willie Jackson (9), John Sherrer (1), Darren Clavier (28), Coty Wilcox (13), Chase Brown (2), William Baldwin (1).