The late season snow is almost gone, which means brush season is only weeks away. Crews from a number of Cape area departments attended the third annual Barnstable County Wildfire Training Drill held at the Massachusetts Military reservation (MMR) on Saturday March 23, 2013.

     About 60 attendees brought various fire apparatus including several brush breakers, forestry trucks, tanker/tenders, an ATV, the Massachusetts Army National Guard TFFTs and HEWATTs, the Department of Fire Services Incident Support Unit 3, and a helicopter for a water drop that were all put to work. Barnstable County's Incident Management Team (IMT) was also participating.

     Classroom training was followed by several evolutions including water supply, hand tools, and off road operation. The original plan was to have included some live burn evolutions at Crane Wildlife Reserve in Falmouth, but several inches of snow a couple days ago changed the plans. A cold wind blew throughout the training, but the crews took advantage of the opportunity
to prepare for the upcoming season.