SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Fire educator earns state award
by RICK AHRENS

Steve L. Herberger

For a fire department to establish itself as one of the state's premier training sites requires not only modern, up-to-date facilities and firefighters eager to hone their craft, but a seasoned fire educator who can transform those advantages into a dynamic system that contributes to a better educated population of local firefighters.

The work of Steve L. Herberger, winner of the annual Fred W. Singer Fire Educator of the Year Award, has been recognized by peers and administrators alike as having, in a matter of just a few years, transformed the Training Department of the Getzville Fire Company.

He is responsible for elevating it to "a model which other volunteer fire departments should emulate," according to Robert Zacher, assistant chief of the company.

Regarded by his fellow firefighters as an extremely talented and articulate presenter, Herberger has gone to great lengths to supplement his own knowledge with a team of instructors and support personnel. Under Herberger's direction, these individuals provide specialized training in mask confidence, Firefighter Assist and Search Teams, low-rise firefighting, high-angle rescue, underwater rescue and recovery and other subjects.

"In firefighting, there are so many things to learn, so you depend on individual expertise, experiences, and specialities," said Herberger. "Our firefighter training is based on local policies that integrate the company's style but is rooted in state standards that allow our firefighters to be well prepared for their state-level Firefighter 1 courses."

Herberger, a 25-year veteran of the fire department, officially retired after a number of years as chief. He is a nationally certified fire instructor, and serves as an adjunct instructor at the state level.

"You're always looking for better ways to train, and better facilities," he said. "I realized I was too young to retire, and as chief, I had noticed ways the current training methods could be improved."

Herberger is also renowned for his managerial skills, which he has used to maximize the effectiveness of the training budget and find alternate sources of funding to provide amenities and props, the pinnacle of which is a 16- by 20-foot, two-story training building which includes a roof vent simulator, movable partition system, trap door, wall breach station, windows of varying sizes and heights, built-in belay points and a forcible entry door.

The structure was designed by Herberger himself and constructed entirely via volunteer labor.

This training complex has been in high demand among both local fire companies and state fire instructors for their own various training courses. Additionally, the closing of other regional training centers last summer as the result of the county fiscal crisis led to the establishment of the Getzville training facilities as an Erie County Regional Training Center while the standard county facilities were forced to close their doors.

Seeking to expand the high level of quality found in the Getzville facilities to other fire departments around the state, Herberger has made the blueprints of his training structure available free of charge. As time progresses, it should come as no surprise that similar buildings have begun to spring up in the Western New York region.

Thanks to Herberger's efforts, the training initiatives he has put forward have become, according to Zacher, "a way of life at the Getzville Fire Company, and its top priority." The numbers released by the fire company would suggest as much: it is reported that, while current bylaws require firefighters to attend 10 "booster" training drills annually, Herberger's drills have precipitated most firefighters doubling their required attendance, and in some cases, even tripling it.

Herberger, who has a father and two brothers affiliated with the fire department, currently has a third brother, daughter and nephew active in the fire service.

While he has won a number of awards at the local level, the Fred W. Singer award, which Herberger received this past May for the year 2006, was accepted with great pride.

"Being a state-level award that's given out only once a year, it's pretty big," he said. "There is such a large number of fire educators in this state that to be singled out is a great feeling. I'm pretty honored."

(Story ideas for this feature can be sent to Amherst Bee Editor David F. Sherman at Bee Publications, PO Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150 or by calling 204-4905 or e-mailing dsherman@beenews.com.)