Imagine putting on a mask that is so tight on your face that no air goes in or out except through the regulator that contains only a certain amount of air before it runs out. You can’t see a single thing through the thick, black smoke, you can’t smell, you can’t feel specifics with gloves on, sounds are muted, and you’re wearing and carrying about 65 pounds of fire gear, air pack, and tools. Then you enter a 4×4 space, in the dark, in hundreds of degrees of fatal heat and smoke with 3/4 of your senses taken away. Then you navigate blindly on various floor types, over holes, through 16″ studs (with your air pack on) after breaching through drywall, plywood or other structure types searching for victims, all while maintaining situational awareness, communications, your composure and decision making faculties, and keeping your air supply at a maintainable level. What happens when we get tangled? Or when the floor drops out from beneath us? Or we are in spaces smaller than 4×4? This is just ONE component out of many of being a firefighter.
Performing these actions just once or twice in a lifetime does not make one proficient. Training literally SAVES OUR LIVES. Hands on, as real to life training on EVERY aspect of firefighting, EVERY SINGLE DAY is how we remain alive in these situations.
This week, Recruit Academy 5 was taken to our regional training (RRTC) facility in Spotsylvania and we utilized our training tower at Co 1 to train using specific props that only those facilities can provide. We also utilize these facilities for scheduled company training multiple times throughout the year so that we can all fully participate in these imperative exercises, but also keep crews staffed in their stations to handle the needs of the community in their due areas at the same time.
We sincerely thank all of our adjunct instructors who came out today to instruct and provide RA5 with some fabulous fundamental skills practice! We couldn’t do this without you!
