Heat of the moment
Firefighters hone skills in live fire simulations
Firefighters endured a weekend full of car fires, propane leaks and tight spaces as they underwent specialized training at the Valley Kemptown Fire Station. Hosted by the Colchester Fireghters Association, the Live Fire Training Tour saw 60 re ghters from the county participate in a weekend of hands-on training from Draeger Safety Canada.
“This kind of live re training isn’t available to every department,” said Sandi Davis John, director of marketing for Draeger Safety Canada.
“To have this training, it would cost a lot of money because they would have to travel so instead, we bring the training to them.”
Dave Westlake, Protection Services Coordinator with the County of Colchester helped spearhead the training sessions.
“The success of a program like this depends on the willingness of the host to put a lot of work into it,” Davis John said. “Dave and this department certainly had that.”
Sponsored by Wilson’s and Home Hardware, the CFA was able to bring Draeger in to hold a series of live re simulations, such as propane and car res, and also taught re ghters about risk management and multitasking.
“We have a large propane tank that we use to simulate what they would do if there was a tank leaking and on re,” said Davis John.
“We also have a car that is set up with propane which is controlled by a control box, and simulates how they would control a car re if there was gas leaking. ey can’t put that re out with their hoses, so it allows them to practice control and management.”
Draeger travels to different provinces each year to provide specialized training to re ghters to increase their skills and techniques, and ready them for new threats they may not have been aware of.
“We are more aware of the risks re ghters are facing today,” said Davis John.
“Now, we talk about when not to put out a re and when not to subject a re ghter to a hazardous situation. When there is nobody to be saved, should a firefighter go in to put out a fire? We are teaching them to ask themselves that question.”
One of the newest threats fireghters face today is the use of new materials in homes that weren’t available a few decades ago, and can quickly cause flashovers during a fire.
“In houses today, there are a lot of synthetic materials, and when the re builds up, those materials put o gases,” said Davis John.
“When those gases reach a point where they become ammable, they all ignite at once. In the old days, houses were constructed much differently and prevented this. Now, re ghters need to be aware that a house can ignite much quicker today.”