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PADUCAH, Ky. - The firefighters and emergency response staff at the United States Enrichment Corporation are the first in Kentucky to earn Industrial Firefighter Certification through a new program developed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The Governor’s Commission on Fire Protection Personnel Standards and Education finalized the industrial firefighter qualifications late last fall after several years of planning and preparation. This certification program is an outgrowth of the State Fire Commission’s efforts to bring together the talent and expertise of the state’s industrial emergency response organizations. In concert with the Fire Commission’s efforts, industry throughout the Commonwealth organized the Kentucky Industrial Emergency Response Committee (KIERC), a professional organization to represent this highly specialized group. This group achieved greater status during the 2000 general assembly when a seat was created on the State Fire Commission for KIERC.
Butch McKinney, a member of USEC’s Emergency Management Group, serves on the State Fire Commission. He has worked closely with Commission members in Frankfort and Lexington and with representatives of industries such as Toyota in Georgetown, Marathon Ashland in Catlettsburg, and General Electric Appliance in Louisville, which maintain fire protection services. McKinney is the lead representative for KIERC and has been actively involved in developing the certification qualifications.
“Since the early 90s we have seen many positive changes within fire services throughout the state,” McKinney said. “Many of these industrial response organizations have very advanced skills and commonly employ complex techniques to fight oil bulk plant fires, address hazardous material spills and deal with challenging environments such as those in nuclear or chemical facilities. Throughout this period, USEC’s Emergency Management and Fire Services staff at Paducah has been a leader in the emergency response field.”
With the development of the industrial program, the State Fire Commission now offers certification for volunteer, paid and industrial fire service personnel. One important advantage of the centralized certification program is the ability to transfer training hours among the three disciplines. For example, an industrial firefighter may apply training hours earned on the job toward certification as a volunteer firefighter and vice versa.
The United States Enrichment Corporation is a subsidiary of USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU), the world’s leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
USEC staff earning Industrial Firefighter Certification include:
Officers:
Firefighters/EMTs:
Emergency Management:
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