VIDEO: More and more Connecticut fire departments are being trained to use UTVs. Short for utility task vehicles, theyโre a type of off-road vehicle, designed to carry multiple passengers and heavier loads. Following the loss of a Wethersfield Volunteer Firefighter in 2024 who died while operating a UTV, the I-Team took a look at the stateโs training program.
On any given day, you can find Seth Roberts behind the wheel of a UTV. Itโs his job. Roberts runs the CT Fire Academyโs UTV safety program. โWhat Iโve seen over the years is more and more departments are utilizing UTVs as part of their fleet and itโs being overlooked as an apparatus. We need to treat it just like itโs the fire engine, the latter truck, the rescue truck,โ says Roberts. โWe have a very rigid process for when we qualify a driver on a piece of apparatus.โ
So, Roberts created a rigid UTV training process for Connecticut first responders. โWe determined this was a necessary program based on the amount of UTVs that are across the state and not having any quality training available to those departments,โ says PJ Norwood, Director of Training for the CT Fire Academy.
The program started last summer, only weeks before Wethersfield firefighter Robert Sharkevich Senior died in October 2024, after the UTV he was driving, while battling a brush fire, rolled over. The CT Department of Labor OSHA division did an investigation following the accident. According to their final report, while driving the UTV on an incline, it began to slide on loose shale and roll from side to side. Investigators say two firefighters sitting on the suppression unit were thrown from the UTV. Two others sitting in the cab were thrown about as well. The Town of Wethersfield paid a $640 penalty for โfailing to ensure that employees followed the manufacturersโ instructionsโ according to the Department of Labor.
The fire department has since enacted new rules for UTV use, including mandatory use of helmets and seatbelts, and limiting the number of passengers at any given time, among many others. Similar to what firefighters are learning at the academy.
โThe first part, and the biggest part, is just utilizing the thought process and changing the thought process, that it is a piece of apparatus and not a recreational vehicle,โ says Roberts. โWe set up a cone course on the pavement so we can understand how the machine works. We talk about climbing obstacles, approaching obstacles, and some pre-planning to make sure that the operators have an understanding of what to do when they come into different kinds of obstacles. Heavy focus on making sure weโre wearing seatbelts, and the rest level of personal protection equipment for whatever weโre doing with the machine. If they are going off the road into the woods, or off the pavement, absolutely – helmets.โ
Since the program started, โup to date weโve done 17 classes and a little over 200 firefighters,โ says Norwood. The next UTV training class is scheduled for the end of the month. The Academy says departments can reach out to them for training information.
