HomeMy WebLinkAboutFire School brings in 3k students 2010FIRE:
Almost 3K
students
Continued from Al
and the caliber of the guest
instructors that makes them
come from so many places."
In the coming weeks, about
2,100 students are expected
for the municipal fire school
and about 800 for the indus-
trial fire school, said Brian
Blake, a TEEX spokesman.
With about 50 instructors
in town in addition to the
530 students, it equates to
what the Convention and
Visitors Bureau would clas-
sify as 1,740 room nights.
"Enrollment for the Span-
ish school this year is up
about 100 from last year,"
Blake said. "Obviously, the
economy and the swine flu
scare attributed to last year's
drop."
Area fire school
brings in visitors
By NIICHELLE CASADY
michelle.c,asady@theeagle.com
Hotels book up, restau-
rants prepare for the extra
business and officials at the
Bryan-College Station Con-
vention and Visitors Bureau
do something atypical.
"We work on bringing all
kinds of groups in normally,
but fire school has been
around for so long, we don't
db any recruiting," said
Shannon Overby, the bur-
eau's executive director.
"We block those weeks out in
our calendar and stay away
from those weeks when
we're looking to bring a tour-
nament to town or some-
thing else."
Training at the Brayton
Fire Field, located at Disaster
City at the Texas Engineer-
ing Extension Service cam-
pus, goes on year-round, but
most activity takes place dur-
ing the summer.
This week, 530 firefighters
from 18 countries are in
town for the Spanish fire
school course.
"Nothing is done at this
level anywhere in the
world," said Mike Wisby,
program director. "It's the
quality of the curriculum
See FIRE, Page A6