By Tom Rohrer
Preparing and practicing procedures for possible events in the future is vital for any profession.
However, this is especially the case in the profession of firefighting.
On Friday, June 22, the men and women of the Griffin Fire Department, McLane/Black Lake Fire Department and Olympia Fire Department, had the opportunity to put their training and experience into action, when a house on Mud Bay Road near The Place Restaurant was set ablaze.
Practice sessions like this provide invaluable lessons for those on the force, as real, uncontrolled fires are isolated and rare in the area.
While it may have been a time for practice, the experience is very real.
“Put yourself in the position of a brand new guy at the entry door and the only thing you’ve done is gone through our fire-blaster trainer,” said Tedd Hendershot, the Assistant Chief for the McLane/Black Lake Fire Department. “Now you’re actually going into a house that’s rocking and rolling with fires going across the ceiling . Would that get your adrenaline going?”
Obtaining a vacant house to train in is also a rarity, and the department must undergo a variety of procedures in order to use the establishment.
“It takes a lot of work because they have to have asbestos removal done beforehand,” Hendershot said. “An inspection has to be done. We come down and remove all the mercury thermostats. Then we go through and pull out the hot water tanks because they’re like missiles when they get hot and remove any other pressurized vessel or any hazardous chemicals.”
For new and volunteer firefighters, training sessions like these are the first time experiencing a real fire and the characteristics that come with the blaze.
“It’s super beneficial for everyone,” said Chris Patti, Lieutenant for McLane/Black Lake Fire Department. ”Some guys don’t ever see, especially the volunteers, a fire. It’s a good practice for them to actually go in.”
When inside the house, the firefighters see first-hand the dangers associated with the profession.
“It’s a really dark atmosphere,” Patti said. “It’s good for them to go in and realize how dark it is and how much they can’t see. Just the smoke itself, the amount of heat they’re running into, makes it tough. This is where you can put it all together. They rely on a bunch of training processes and tasks to use in this live smoke condition. This is our bread and butter.”
The morning of the training session, the firefighters gathered at the site for a walk-through, where they observe possible hazards, entry points, and the lay-out of the house.
Entry teams of around three-to-four members will engage the structure, while a back-up team of a similar size will wait on-call outside. A Rapid Intervention Team looks out for everyone in case of an emergency or issue, and has the capability of springing into appropriate action quickly.
Working together as a team and unit is a major component of the training, along with undergoing correct procedures to put out the flame.
“What we stress a lot is working together as a team, as a unit,” Hendershot said. “We want to make sure the nozzle pattern and fire stream is correct and that the rotation of the nozzle is effective. There are a lot of things, like monitoring their air and the time they’ve been in there and communicating with their friends and buddies. If they’re going along and not yanking on their bootstraps or something, you kind of stall out and wonder where everyone is. And it’s vital to make sure your team is together. You don’t want to leave anybody behind.”
Along with fire retention, the same house has been used for a variety of other purposes recently as well.
“This past week, the house has been used several times for several different things,” Patti noted. “If we have the house for a long period of time, we can use it for our guys to use for search and rescue. This morning, we went over techniques on cutting holes in the roof and how to enter for rescue.”
A time tested procedure, using houses to provide a real-life situation has been used by fire departments for decades, and it appears that will continue.
“We’ve done this kind of training since I entered in 1975,” Hendershot said. “It’s the best way to simulate the real thing, so I think it will be used as long as there are fire departments.”
