This article originally appeared on KEYT.com here.
CAMARILLO, Calif-Ventura County firefighters are learning about solar safety issues.
This week Classes are being taught by an award-winning retired Las Vegas Fire Captain who helped put solar on fire stations in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Richard Birt has seen the lack of power kill people and he is believes solar can save countless lives during disasters.
“This lesson is about safety, this is about saving lives with clean resilient energy,” said Birt, “Power outages are killing people and what we can do is back up communities with clean solar panels and batteries.”
Crews are also learning about protecting themselves while protecting homes with electric car chargers, and solar systems. It is no longer as simple as turning off the electricity
Birt also demonstrated how to use portable solar charging units and trailers. Firefighters now use portable kits for their own vehicles while departments bring trailers to places that have lost power during fires or other disasters.
New Use Energy (NUE) displayed a small trailer that can be towed by a car. CEO Paul Shmotolokha, who was raised in Thousand Oak called it a ” power machine on wheels.” He said it can help homes, schools and businesses during power emergencies.
“There is no fuel needed.”
Direct Relief in Santa Barbara County is already using trailers to respond to disasters.
“You wheel this up and everybody can plug into all the outlets here on the outside or on the inside, you can run refrigerators inside, all sorts of machinery, and it just doesn’t need any extra power to regenerate, it works off batteries that are powered by solar panels, “said Shmotolokha.
Birt travels all over the world teaching firefighters how to protect themselves and the communities they serve.
“Teaching in Ventura County is two things, we teach firefighting safety with solar and batteries, but we also teach resiliency so communities can protect themselves from all power outages with the fires and basically save lives with electricity, solar electricity.”
He said other departments are welcome to check out the classes through Thursday at the county training facility off Durley Avenue in Camarillo.