Over the past couple months I have been talking with people in the fire services about the MRC.  Specifically I've been trying to improve our collaboration with them for cross-training, to help with exercises, and to provide assistance during an actual response.

The first group I talked with was a Fire Chaplain group.  This group looks at the mental health side of fires.  They are looking for resources who would be available to talk with firefighters or victims after a fire.  Just providing emotional support to people during a difficult time.

The second group I talked with was the West Peoria Fire Department.  I talked with them about cross-training with them during their meetings (which are held on wednesday evenings and sundays).  I also talked about assisting them and playing with them in their exercises.  I also brought up that we have volunteers who could assist in an actual response with simple things such as traffic control all the way up to pre/post medical screenings for their firefighters.

Both of these groups seemed very receptive to working with the MRC so in the future more information will be coming down to members about collaboration with these groups!