HEBRON — From observing firefighting tactics to helping cut off the roof of a car, Tristate journalists participated in the first Greater Cincinnati Media Fire Academy that concluded Sunday.

        “The goal in organizing this is to create better communications between the media and firefighters,” said event organizer Michael Fronimos. “Journalists need to know how we (firefighters) see and think about issues. They can in turn convey that to the public, who needs to know what we are all about.”

        Mr. Fronimos is the public education and community relations officer for the Hebron fire department. His previous experience includes acting as a public information officer for Wayne County, Mich., the fourth largest county in the country. He has 13 years experience in fire service and 11,000 ride-along hours with the Detroit Fire Department.

        The three-day academy included classroom lectures and hands-on training from firefighters from several communities, including Colerain Township.

        On Saturday, students used hydraulic tools, commonly called Jaws of Life in an exercise demonstrating how to extract people for wrecked vehicles.

        Students also were fitted in protective gear and observed what it's like to fight a fire as a building was set alight for demonstration.

        The program was modeled off a successful academy taught once a year by the Phoenix Fire Department. Journalists who successfully graduate from that program are loaned protective fire gear and are allowed inside fire lines to photograph and report closer to the action on both fire and medical emergencies.

        Journalists going through the Greater Cincinnati program, however, will not be given additional access to fire scenes in the Tristate, in part, because of the large number of departments. There are more than 120 fire departments inthe region, including 43 departments in three Northern Kentucky counties.

        California-based writer Ellen Kirschman flew to Northern Kentucky to attend the academy as part of the research for her new book —— Why I Love a Firefighter.

        “I heard about the academy in Kentucky while researching my book,” said Dr. Kirschman, 62, of Redwood City, Calif.

        Dr. Kirschman is a clinical psychologist and consultant who has been working with law enforcement agencies for 20 years. She has written extensively about law enforcement and is the author of I Love a Cop, published by Guilford Press in 1997.

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