BRANCH COUNTY - Branch County Firefighters will be receiving more hands-on training due to new forcible entry prop.

The Coldwater Fire Department submitted a grant in February of 2020 to the Leary Firefighters Foundation for a forcible entry training prop to be used by all the Branch County Fire Departments. In November of 2020, the Coldwater Fire Department was notified by the Leary Foundation they were awarded a $7,500 grant to purchase the prop from Firehouse Innovations.

On March 15, 2021, four firefighters from Branch County traveled to New York to pick the prop up and received two hours of personalized training with the owner/inventor of the forcible entry prop who is a retired member of the Fire Department of New York. The prop made its way back to Branch County on March 17th and was just recently used in the Branch County Firefighter I and II academy.