Putnam County Schools will donate a bus to the Cookeville Fire Department for training.
Lieutenant Charles McFalls is also a bus driver for the county school system. He said that the department has a lot of training with regular vehicles, but not much with school buses.
“You know we may have to cut into the side of the bus where there is not a door that is accessible,” McFalls said. “And so there are bars, strength bars, that run through the center of the bus. That’s usually where those black lines are that you see on the side of a bus. Usually, the lower line is the floor line and the top bar there is what protects them along the seat line.”
McFalls said that the department always tries to prepare for what may happen, even if it never does. He said that having this bus donated as a new tool will greatly enhance the skills of the firefighters.
“We get to train on a lot of cars, but not a school bus,” McFalls said. “And a school bus has certain special features on it to help protect the students, which makes it a little harder for our job. So I just wanted the guys to have a little bit better of an experience so I called up Kim Bradford who I work at the Putnam County bus garage for the school system and asked her if I could have one of the old buses that sit back that no longer runs and she said she would try and see if we could get one donated to the city.
McFalls said that the next step is to get the bus towed to a facility where they can train with the bus in various positions.
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