AURORA — More than 25 first responders from Beaufort County and beyond spent part of the weekend learning new techniques to better respond to emergencies that might not come up every day.

The all-day session at the Aurora Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday was the second day of training for Beaufort County’s new Special Operations Unit. Working with Nutrien’s emergency response team, first responders learned skills such as high-angle rescue, using ropes and pulleys to move heavy objects, patient packaging and how to monitor air quality in a potentially hazardous situation.

“This is going to be kind of an ongoing class,” said Special Operations Unit organizer Ted Wallace. “We’ll probably be doing these once a month for the rest of the year.”

Wallace, who serves with multiple departments throughout the county, says the training is good for both learning new skills and developing camaraderie among first responders.

“We’re getting these different fire departments working together so we know everybody’s names when we do have a large incident and show up together,” Wallace said.

The group’s first meeting in December focused on knot tying and how to execute grain bin rescues. Wallace says the next session will focus on more rope rescues before the team moves on to addressing hazmat situations.

“We‘ll actually be invited to Nutrien’s site, reach out to the farmers and talk about what kind of chemicals they have and what kind of confined spaces they have, just try to build that cooperation with the community,” Wallace said.

From an emergency management point of view, Beaufort County Operations Chief of Fire/Emergency Management Chris Newkirk says the new unit, and the series of trainings, makes countywide emergency response stronger as a whole.

“The purpose of this team is to expose these responders and get them comfortable in the less-frequent call types we have,” Newkirk said. “From our perspective at our office, when we see classes like this go off on a Saturday, it is a testament to the commitment from the various stakeholders we have throughout the county. … It’s a good thing to see when you have that many people and that many organizations coming together with that one goal in mind of being prepared. That means a lot, and we’re very appreciative of those efforts.”