BRUNSWICK — The Maine Fire Service Institute will host a daylong emergency response seminar at Southern Maine Community College’s Midcoast Campus at Brunswick Landing on Thursday, Dec. 12.

Called “Emergency Response and Planning to School Shootings,” the seminar is for emergency first responders and law enforcement personnel. It will occur from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., led by two Colorado fire officials, one of whom now lives in Maine and heads the Maine Fire Service Institute, which is a department of SMCC.

The presentation consists of response practices learned and refined in the wake of the Columbine school shootings of 1999, and has been of interest particularly since the 2012 school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Jay Ruoff, a division chief with the Littleton, Colo., Fire Rescue department, was called to Columbine High School after two students began a shooting spree that killed 12 of their peers, including a teacher, and injured 24 others.

Bill Guindon, who now is director of the Maine Fire Service Institute, also lived near Littleton in 1999. He, too, was called to the school when the tragedy was reported.

It’s important for emergency responders and education officials in Maine to review their response capabilities in crisis situations, Guindon said.

“The seminar will look at lessons learned and how to apply them in Maine,” Guindon said. “The more training they get and the more they learn, the better they’ll be able to respond.”

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