On December 1, 1958 at Our Lady of Angels Catholic School a fire killed 92 students and 3 nuns.  This started an era of fire sprinklers, fire drills and fire prevention in schools.  In the last 35 years no student has died as a result of fire in an educational setting. To ensure safety fire drills and training occur monthly in schools across the country.   

On August 1, 1966, 15 students at the University of Texas are killed by gunfire and by February 26, 2010 – 204 students have been killed at schools and colleges across the United States.  The carnage occurs in urban settings and rural settings served by paid and volunteer Fire and EMS departments.   When your tones drop, are you ready to respond to the active shooter, multiple victims? While no course, conference, or handbook will completely prepare you, understanding the “Lessons Learned” will greatly improve your ability and training in order to respond, safely, effectively and in the most efficient manner possible.

The Central Ohio Joint Fire District is hosting a two-day conference with 13 hours of Continuing Education Credits on Saturday & Sunday April 24 & 25, 2010. The conference is open to First Responders which include, FIRE, EMS, Law Enforcement, Dispatchers and those who will be part of the response to a criminal act of violence.

0830 starts registration both days at the Centerburg High School located at 3782 Columbus Road in Centerburg, Ohio 43011.  The fee for both days is $ 20.00 which includes lunch both days and 13 hours of CEUs. Those interested please send in your name, address, department and phone number to COJFD – PO Box 727 – Centerburg, Ohio 43011 by Monday April 19, 2010.  Walk-ins will be accepted but lunch cannot be a guarantee.  Please make check payable to

Knox County Fire Chiefs and write conference on the memo line.

Topics will include; “Timeline of a Tragedy” the Amish School Shooting. This will be presented by Mike Hoover who was Incident Commander for this tragedy. Other topics include “Responding to Active Shooter”, “Chest Trauma & Violent Acts Against the Body”, “SMART Triage”, Crime Scene Preservation” and “Crime Scene Concerns”.

“Learning and understanding can’t happen during an act of violence!”

“Law Enforcement, FIRE, & EMS must train and prepare together”

“Lessons Learned is step one in being prepared”