Annual Spanish Fire School at Texas A&M Cancelled Due to COVID-19

The 54^th annual Spanish Fire School, scheduled for July 5-10 at Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, Texas, has officially been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service announced Friday.

Plans are ongoing to hold the annual industrial and municipal schools in July as scheduled, a press release issued by TEEX states.

Students will be offered full refunds on their tuition, TEEX division director Robert Moore said.

“Some may think I am making this decision too early, but I am hoping to save you the burden of making travel arrangements and then worrying about getting your refunds when you have to cancel,” he said.

Each year in July, thousands of fire service personnel from municipalities and industries around the world participate in intensive weeklong training courses that make up the annual fire schools.

The first week is dedicated to Spanish-speaking students, follow by a week of instruction for industrial firefighters and then a week for municipal firefighters. Courses range from basic to advanced levels and are taught by guest instructors experienced in specific areas of emergency response.

“This virus has created a new world in which we live, and with very little information,” Moore said. “Our country, just as yours, is learning how to battle this disease. I thought long and hard on this decision and please know that it is a decision I did not want to make.

“The Annual Spanish Fire School holds a special place in my heart, and let me assure you we will have the school I July of 2021.”

In College Station, the TEEX Emergency Services Training Institute is home to the 300-acre Brayton Fire Training Field complex, Disaster City emergency rescue training facility and the Emergency Operations Training Complex.

Together with the Center for Marine Training and Safety in Galveston, Texas, TEEX has trained more than 120,000 people worldwide in 130 emergency response discipline areas.