Area fire department’s take part in rural disaster training exercises

July 20, 2025

The Viroqua Fire Department reports that members are fire departments from Stoddard, Shelby, Westby, Viroqua, DeSoto, Genoa, Holmen, La Farge, Tri-State, and MedLink Air came together for a powerful hands-on rural disaster training over the weekend.

The training was organized and hosted by Tri-State’s Dr. Lansing, and featured five realistic scenarios:

• A person trapped under a tractor
• A child who fell from a tree
• A farmer experiencing pesticide illness
• An impalement injury from a bale fork
• A hunter with stroke-like symptoms in a tree stand

Each scenario took the trainees from dispatch and scene response through patient transport and hospital/ER care. Viroqua Fire members who participated said the exercise was “an incredible opportunity for critical thinking, team-based care, and learning how we all work together, from EMRs and EMTs to Paramedics, medical students, and physicians.”

The department expressed thanks to Emplify Air, Emplify Ice House, and to the medical students from Green Bay and beyond who trained alongside fire departments.

Viroqua Fire also thanked responders, students, and instructors who helped make the event happen and said “Trainings like this strengthen not just our skills, but our entire emergency response network. The collaboration, feedback, and hands-on experience were invaluable.”