For Eddie Morgan, attending the Industrial Fire School is like a "mini-vacation."
The weeklong school, organized by the College Station-based Texas Engineering Extension Service, provides extensive hands-on training for emergency response personnel working in refineries, so they're better prepared to handle accidents and emergencies in the workplace.
"They have a good facility, not like what we have, and it is good to train with different people other than your usual crew," he said.
The Baytown resident has been working in operations at Chevron Cedar Bayou Plant for 10 years and began volunteering on the emergency response team during his fourth year.
Morgan said having such a team ensures that his co-workers will always be taken care of -- no matter what.
"I knew other guys would come and get me if I were ever down, so I felt obligated to be part of the team," he said.
More than 500 students are attending the 48th annual Industrial Fire School this week. Four times that many students are expected for next week's Municipal Fire School.
Morgan has been attending the Industrial Fire classes for six years, but said there's always something new to learn.
This year, Morgan discovered more about emergency medical training and patient care procedures, but one lesson he always remembers is the value of teamwork, he said.
Robbie Bailey said fire school is like a vacation for him, too, and working with new people is one of his favorite parts about spending a week at the Brayton Fire Training Field immediately south of Easterwood Airport.
"It's great getting a break to come up here for a week and meet new people from all over the world," he said. "They teach us something and we teach them something, too."
This is the third year at the Industrial Fire School for the Corpus Christi Citgo refinery employee.
"It's good to know what is going on if something ever happens, and I figured this was something I needed to do," Bailey said. "They train us, but they don't teach us how to be firefighters, so that's why we come."
Bailey and the other students at the fire school practice how to properly put out massive fires using fire extinguishers and synthetic foams, which act as a vapor barrier.
Field Safety Officer Instructor Stephen Greco said he wants his students to keep safety a priority. Industry employees encounter leaking pipes, chemical spills, hydrocarbon fires and they may even have to undergo rescues, he said.
"We want to teach them ways of thinking and techniques so they themselves can recognize risks and reduce these risks," Greco said.
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