Mehlville Fire Protection District firefighters participated in a training class last week at Clydesdale Park in Green Park to earn their certification as trench-rescue technicians.

Roughly 25 MFPD firefighters participated in the four-day trench-rescue technician class offered by the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Fire and Rescue Training Institute, according to Assistant Chief Dan LaFata.

“… To earn a certification, you have to do a scenario in three different kinds of trenches — an L-shaped trench, a straight trench and a T-shaped trench,” LaFata said.

With the roughly 25 firefighters certified in last week’s class, Mehlville now has about 50 certified trench-rescue technicians.

“With this (class), we now have 50 people that are deployable with other statewide teams,” LaFata said, adding that’s nearly half of the district’s 117 firefighters.

The assistant chief emphasized that even though this was a training class, working with trenches is never completely safe as the three types of trenches used for the class are a minimum of 8 feet deep.

“… When you smoke up a building with fake smoke for firefighter training, there’s really little chance of getting hurt,” he said. “This is a live trench. You can never make these safe — 100 percent … One thing these guys will all do after this class is they’ll notice how many trenches are being dug in the district right now. Anytime you see a backhoe on the side of the road, there’s a trench next to it.”

Firefighters participated in 40 hours of training for the class, including one day in the classroom and three days of working in the trenches, according to LaFata.

Of the training, he said, “This incorporates all of the incident-command features, teamwork, carpentry skills, knowledge of specialized tools. That’s why is such a good training (class).”

Digging a trench “is not a do-it-yourself project” and should be left to professionals, LaFata said.

“Typically, when we have a trench rescue, it’s someone who has rented a backhoe and gotten in a little bit deeper than they should of …,” he said. “If a trench collapses on you, that dirt weighs so much. If it doesn’t break you in half, it will suffocate you because you won’t be able to expand your chest.”