LACASSINE – Jeff Davis Parish Fire District 3 has been gifted with fire training equipment it hopes will help others be prepared for a fire at all times in an effort to reduce the risk of loss of life and property.

Louisiana Spirits doing business as Bayou Rum Distillery recently donated a $10,000 fire extinguisher training system and rechargeable water extinguisher cans for the department’s fire trucks.

“The fire extinguisher training system will allow us to teach others to activity extinguish a fire through stimulated training,” firefighter and department secretary Amber Well said.

According to Wells, the training prop will allow the department to provide education to local businesses, schools, organizations and the general public on proper use of fire extinguishers, even under stressful situations.

“It’s not always easy to operate under stressful circumstances and this training will allow us to teach others how to use fire extinguishers work and about fires,” she said. “When there is an emergency it is already stressful enough, but if you can have a game plan in place and know how to safely use an extinguisher to put out a fire, it can reduce damage and loss of life.”

“Our main goal is to educate, increase awareness and teach the public to be safe.”

Jeff Davis Parish Economic Development Chairman Ronnie Petree said the Bayou Rum team recognized the opportunity to help the community when they requested extinguisher training from the fire district.

“They did not have the tools to help and the cost of emptying extinguishers and refilling them to train the 50-plus employees at the Bayou Rum Distillery would have cost thousands of dollars,” Petree said.

Bayou Rum team members Kim Grundy, Rachelle Richard and Keith Beasley researched solutions and found a training device that used extinguishers that could be filled with water, then charged with comprised are using a standard compressor.

The device, manufactured by LION, has a remote control that can ignore a controlled fire and adjust the difficulty of extinguishing to challenge the trainees in perfecting their technique, he said.

“This solution not only saves money, but the team at Bayou Rum recognized the fire department could use this to train teachers at local schools and other area business employees to help them act early to extinguish small fires before they get out of control,” Petree said.

The Bayou Rum team pitched the idea to director Angelo Torre, who agreed to cover the cost to help the fire department, schools and community. He also agreed to cover the cost of purchasing rechargeable water extinguishers for each fire truck.

“It’s a win-win for all of us and can help mitigate serious fire damage and potentially save lives by training people to assess manageable fires and extinguish them early, Torre said.

Fire District 3 covers more than 250 miles in Lacassine, Woodlawn and south of Welsh to Cameron Parish.