Large Donation Fuels Partnership & Lifesaving Training

“It’s a partnership and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember,” Major Nate Ingersoll said about the relationship between Louisville Water and fire departments throughout Jefferson County.

Fire protection was in fact one of the founding reasons for Louisville Water in 1860. One hundred sixty-five years later, the partnership remains strong.

Louisville Water has a team dedicated to maintaining and service more than 25,000 fire hydrants in our area. Both organizations work closely together frequently with a common goal: protecting our community.

“There’s a lot more behind the scenes than just turning on a fire hydrant and putting a fire out,” shared Louisville Water Plumber Leader Scott Corbin.

While that’s certainly admirable by itself, Corbin recently witnessed hundreds of firefighters participating in training exercises at the Kentucky Regional Fire Training Academy. Sitting on nearly 80 acres in southeastern Jefferson County, the property provides a place for firefighters to hone their skills and get in the trenches. Literally.

“Anywhere between six and eight feet (deep). It all varied where the bedrock was,” is how Ingersoll described the trenches that Corbin dug with an excavator in September. “Realistically, the size that he dug are what 90% of the trench rescues we’re going to make are (like).”

Following classroom training and a practice drill in a concrete trench, it was “go time” in the dirt trenches.

“Dirt moves at 44 miles per hour. When it starts going, you can’t outrun it. The corners become the weakest spot of a trench, so we have to be able to teach people how to manage those and protect themselves and protect the victim that’s down in there with them,” explained Ingersoll, Fern Creek Fire Department’s Division Chief of Training and Special Operations.

All the more reason he is helping lead the charge for groundbreaking training in this area.

“The collapsed city would be a dream without donations and help from companies like Louisville Water,” Ingersoll said.

The “collapsed city” is a stack of shipping containers intermingled with various materials designed for the purpose of simulating a structural collapse. This will give firefighters hands-on experience in responding to a building collapse and rescue or recovery situation.

Corbin helped coordinate Louisville Water’s donation of old water mains, pipes, and pipe fittings. The deeper value of the donations is not lost on him.

“We’re not just taking pipe out there to dump trash to clean up in the yard. This has a purpose. Okolona, Jeffersontown, Louisville Fire Department uses that area too. So, it’s not just ‘we’re helping out Nate from Fern Creek’, we’re helping firefighters in all of Jefferson County by providing things that everybody can use to train,” Corbin said.

“This is probably the biggest donation we’ve gotten (from Louisville Water). It’s a lot of concrete. It’s a lot of metal. We can do a whole bunch of different stuff with it,” said Ingersoll.

He added they’ve sent more than 60 firefighters to become certified as collapse techs. Ingersoll expects the “collapsed city” to be fully finished by late 2026.

This partnership doesn’t just burn bright during October for National Fire Prevention Month. It’s fueled year-round, and it’s something in which Corbin and the rest of Louisville Water’s hydrant team take great pride.

“The relationship between both of us is giant. They need us and we need them just as much.”