Local Firefighters Trained on Responding to Gas Well Emergencies - WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville

Volunteer firefighters from two states and three counties met at the Limestone Fire Department in Marshall County for a training session involving gas well fires.

Departments from Marshall, and Ohio Counties, and Washington County in Pennsylvania heard presentations from Noble Energy Incorporated, and Wild Well Control, a worldwide company that responds to gas well fires.

The training was held to make first responders aware of what hazards they might encounter when responding to an emergency on a gas well site, from a fire to a full blown explosion.

Marshall County EMA Director, Tom Hart, says its important to keep first responders trained properly.

"We've done a series of training's for the first responders, especially the firefighters over the last couple of years," he says. "In order to keep their knowledge up, and increase their knowledge base as well."

Hart says that there were three gas well incidents in a four month period back in 2010. Since then, there haven't been many problems on the well sites, except for a few transportation issues, he says.