Katy Hosts 500+ FFs for 29th Annual Rescue School

29th Annual Katy Rescue School

Students included more than 300 active-duty firefighters from across the state and nation taking part in basic rescue and vehicle extrication training, as well as an additional 50 firefighters taking an advanced rescue course.

Students came from as far away as Boston and Washington, D.C. to take part in the state-of-the-art lifesaving training.

The annual Katy rescue school is considered the largest such specialized training in Texas, and the third largest in the nation.

The course was based at Morton Ranch High School and coordinated by the Texas Engineering and Extension Service of Texas A&M University.

The Friday evening lecture and safety filled the Morton Ranch High Performing Arts Center. The Saturday and Sunday hands-on training exercises took place on Golbow’s Garage and Wrecker service salvage facility adjacent to the school.

Golbow’s and Farmer’s Insurance provided vehicles used by the firefighters to practice extrication and rescue techniques, including multiple vehicle rescue scenarios, heavy rescue techniques and victim rescue, triage and trauma treatment. Memorial Hermann Hospital LifeFlight also provided a medical helicopter to orient students in techniques for evacuating critical crash victims.

Students also took part in a mass-casualty rescue practice based on a scenario that a devastating tornado had struck the Katy area.

Firefighter Lester Jones from Matagorda County said the hands-on instruction gave him the opportunity to polish his skills and learn the newest rescue and lifesaving techniques.

“You can literally get years of experience here in the course of the weekend. It’s physically grueling, exhausting actually, but you come away with skills that you otherwise may never have learned,” Jones said.

He said he already had “aches and pains in muscles I’d forgotten I have” from the Saturday session, even as the Sunday session was proving even more challenging.

“Yesterday, we were sweating like crazy in the heat; today we’re working in the rain. But that’s what it’s really like out there – you have to be there when an emergency occurs and those emergencies don’t typically happen under perfect conditions,” he said. “Regardless of the circumstances, you still have to rise to the occasion – lives depend on what you do.”

Medical crews were on site both days, treating firefighters for heat exhaustion and other minor ailments resulting from the rigorous training sessions.

Vehicle extrication exercises included immobilization and moving patients, single-vehicle rescue, multiple-vehicle rescue and specialized tools. The advanced course offered immobilization and moving patients, advanced vehicle rescue, industrial rescue and advanced tools.

The school was established under the leadership of former Katy Fire Chief Gary Tilton. Tilton, who died suddenly in October of 2004 while serving as Katy’s fire chief, spent more than 30 years with the department. He also served five years as a Katy City Councilman.

Following his death, Tilton’s widow, JoAnn Tilton, established a foundation to continue supporting the rescue school, as well as other firefighter training.

During his career with the Katy Fire Department, Tilton served as chief, assistant chief, rescue captain, suppression captain, lieutenant, quartermaster and training officer. Tilton also served as an instructor at numerous fire training schools across Texas, including teaching at the Texas A&M Municipal Fireman’s Training School for 20-plus years.