Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Training for Public Safety Officials

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Fire, police, and emergency medical professionals in Berkshire County are invited to a hands-on training on lithium-ion battery fire response hosted by the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority. 
 
The workshop, led by a lithium-ion battery expert with International BAE Systems, covers how to recognize battery failures, prevent thermal runaway, and protect crews from toxic gas exposure and reignition hazards. This training follows a serious fire event at the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority where a battery pack repeatedly ignited for hours and had to be removed from the bus.
 
This session is recommended if your department responds to fires involving electric vehicles, scooters, or stored battery packs.
 
The training will be held on Wednesday, July 30, from 10 to 4 at BRTA's maintenance facility at 67 Downing Parkway.
 
The cost is free for public safety personnel but attendees are asked to register at 413-499-2782, Ext. 2892, accem.scott@berkshirerta.gov or justin.rowland@berkshirerta.gov. Registration is also being taken here. 
 

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Wahconah Students Join Statewide 'SOS' Call for Rural School Funding

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

DALTON, Mass. — Students at Wahconah Regional High School are urging the state to fully fund Rural School Aid that supports essential services that shape their future.
 
Rural districts across the state participated in Rural and Declining Enrollment Schools Week of Action to insist Beacon Hill fully fund rural aid at $60 million. 
 
Schools across Massachusetts sent their pleas for aid to lawmakers through letter-writing campaigns, sign-making, and coordinated gatherings where students and educators formed the letters "SOS."

Wahconah students did something different — they created an educational video detailing the need for increased funding for rural schools with the school's music teacher Brian Rabuse, who edited the video, Assistant Superintendent Aaron Robb said. 

The advocacy efforts move the issue from spreadsheets to show the human cost of a funding formula previously described as "remarkably wrong." 
 
During an interview with iBerkshires, students expressed how districts without rural aid would have to make reductions in world language programing, mental health support, extracurricular opportunities, and other areas they find essential. 
 
"Our students deserve the same quality of education as any child in Massachusetts, regardless of their ZIP code," Superintendent Mike Henault said in a press release.
 
"The week of action is an opportunity for our communities to come together and make it clear to Beacon Hill that the status quo is no longer acceptable." 
 
Rural schools attempt to create the same quality education as urban and suburban areas while balancing high fixed costs of transportation and operations of geographically large, low-population districts.
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