Representatives from several fire departments in our region, across Canada and parts of the U.S. will participate in a fire training exercise in Altona this weekend.

A safety technology company called Drager is bringing its Live Fire Training Tour to Altona on June 15 and 16.

"Drager produces air packs and medical equipment, and they are bringing three semi loads worth of equipment where they will set it up ... and will spend two days training firefighters."

Altona Fire Chief Greg Zimmerman says this is the first time the training tour has been held in Manitoba. He says they have space for a total of 80 people made up of local firefighters from the region and a contingent of firefighters from B.C., Saskatchewan, Ontario and a couple of fire chiefs from the U.S.

Zimmerman says they've been working on bringing the event to Altona for the past few months.

"Some of the training events include how to deal with a barbecue fire and propane tank, how to deal with an automobile fire, and we'll be using a flashover container where we take firefighters in and show them how flashover builds up. There will also be a maze tunnel that they'll have to go through."

Firefighters from Altona/Rhineland, Winkler, Morden, Plum Coulee, Gretna, St. Jean, and Letellier will be participating in the event, which will be held at the fire training centre in Altona.

"If local residents are interested, they can watch the training from outside the training grounds," said Zimmerman.