Our Training

Our goal here at the Hazelwood Fire Department is to provide our Firefighter/Paramedics with a range of high quality programs and services designed to protect the lives, property and environment for the citizens and visitors in the City of Hazelwood and surrounding areas. It is our mission to prepare ourselves with any adverse effects due to fires, sudden medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, natural or man-made disasters, and other dangerous conditions.

Structural Firefighting
Once a Firefighter has completed the St. Louis County Fire Academy, ongoing training is required to maintain and improve on the skills that have been acquired.

Advances in fire behavior have led to changes in firefighting tactics and technologies. These advancements in fire science reveal the critical importance of structural firefighting training in the fire service.

The Hazelwood Fire Department’s structural training is to ensure that our firefighters are current with changes in suppression and ventilation techniques, building construction, fire dynamics, personal protective equipment, and firefighter health and safety, amongst other things.

Vehicle Extrication
The Hazelwood Fire Department trains on a constant basis on vehicle and patient extrication.  This training is the process of removing a vehicle from around a person who has been involved in a motor vehicle collision, when conventional means of exit are impossible or inadvisable.

Vehicle extrication calls and techniques are ever changing with the creation of newer vehicles along with the technologies. 

The Hazelwood Fire Department firefighters train on getting the feel for both the material they are working against, the tools they are operating along with using techniques to create an opening to gain patient access.

Emergency Medical Services
Continuing education is a necessary and required part of life as a paramedic. Continuing education requirements have been developed to help keep your skills sharp and your certifications current. Even the most veteran emergency care professional can benefit from refresher courses as well as introduction to new ideas and technologies.

The Hazelwood Fire Department conducts regular training in medical education classes in house. Classes are taught by our own personnel, guest instructors, and members of our medical control facility, SSM DePaul Hospital.