Tri-C, Parma FD Arrange Equipment-for-Training Credit Exchange

Parma Fire Department to send old stretchers to Tri-C Fire Academy in exchange for $3,500 worth of fire service training classes

Cuyahoga Community College and the Parma Fire Department have arranged an equipment-for-training credit trade, pending the approval of Parma City Council.

Tri-C’s Fire Training Academy, located at the KeyBank Public Safety Training Center at Western Campus in Parma, is always on the lookout for creative ways to acquire equipment that students can use during training. As it turns out, some such equipment happened to be sitting in a nearby storage room — practically in the academy’s backyard.

The Parma Fire Department had five stretchers in storage, no longer ideal for use by the department, but still perfect for use by students during training exercises.

“The stretchers are an older model and manually operated,” said Assistant Fire Chief Tony Dalesio in a recent cleveland.com article. Dalesio noted that most departments are moving to powered stretchers, which make the job of moving patients less physically taxing.

With no viable options to sell the stretchers, the Parma Fire Department instead worked with Tri-C’s Fire Academy to orchestrate a swap that benefits both organizations: Tri-C would receive the stretchers, and in exchange, the College would give Parma Fire Department $3,500 in training credit for advanced courses.

It’s the latest in a series of trades brokered between the city’s fire department and Tri-C. Since 2010, the College has acquired an ambulance, SCBA packs and fire hoses in exchange for training credits.

“The real win-win in these situations is that fire departments in the area have limited training budgets,” said Dan Waitkus, interim director of the Tri-C Fire Training Academy. “This is a way for Parma to extend the life of usable equipment, using it to train future and current members of fire and EMS units, and they, in turn, receive an agreed-to figure in terms of training credits.”

Parma City Council will vote on an ordinance outlining the equipment trade at their meeting on Aug. 5. Provided it passes, Tri-C will formally acquire the stretchers by early September. The Parma Fire Department must use the training credits within 24 months.

“A lot of departments upgrade their equipment, but as long as their old equipment is still compliant with industry standards, we have a great need for it,” Waitkus said. “Our equipment gets used a lot more than on-the-job equipment, because our classes use it every day, all day long. We’re grateful for arrangements like these.”

July 10, 2019

Erik Cassano, 216-987-3577 or erik.cassano@tri-c.edu