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COLUMBIA -- More than 60 firefighters and first responders from across the state were on MU's campus in Columbia Saturday

They were there for an electric vehicle safety training program hosted by the National Fire Protection Association and the MU Fire and Rescue Training Institute.

The project is a nationwide program to help our firefighters and first responders prepare for the growing number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the road in the United States.

"Its basically updating their existing knowledge with a conventional vehicle and getting them to understand in what ways hybrid and electric vehicles may be a little bit different and how they need to look at them," National Fire Protection Association Safety Trainer Jason Emery said.

Columbia Fire Department’s Battalion Chief, James Weaver, was at Saturday’s training.

"We're going to be able to reach out to a lot of fire departments and get the information out,” Weaver said.  “We run a lot of vehicle accidents."

During the session participants got hands on training and live demonstration of safety techniques on a Chevy Volt and a Toyota Prius.

The NFPA project is funded by a $4.4 million grant from the Department of U.S. Energy.