Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
EGANVILLE – Eleven area fire departments, including Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards (KHR), and Madawaska Valley took part in a four-day training exercise at the Sno-Drifters race facility on the outskirts of Eganville last week.
The departments were training for interior structure fires using a purpose-built mobile live-fire training unit.
The province has two of the units currently and anticipate two more being acquired in the near future.
The Mobile Live Fire Training Units, administered by the Ontario Fire College, “are designed to deliver high-quality, hands-on training directly to fire services, regardless of location,” wrote fire college instructor Fred Chadwick.
The units are about the size of a tractor trailer and can be set up to mimic a two-storey structure fire. Walls inside the unit are moveable to allow for different training scenarios. The Gazette joined the Killaloe team Thursday night to observe their training session. Onsite instructors told the firefighters they would get about three passes through the unit during the four-hour session, which included a walkthrough before beginning the training exercise to familiarize themselves with the unit.
The firefighters were split up into teams of three or four. After each team was through the exercise once, instructors debriefed with the firefighters then changed the inside configuration so the teams had different layouts and scenarios each
time through, including mannequins for rescue training.
Fire Chief Bob Gareau said, at one point, the teams were practicing a “right hand search” which is a search method where firefighters crawl along the floor with their right hand against a wall for guidance. He explained that, in a larger structure, two firefighters would work in tandem with one holding onto the boot of the one in front. The search method allows them to work around a room while staying oriented in difficult visibility. They can feel under tables or desks to determine if someone may be hiding and get them to safety. The mobile unit, Gareau explained, was too small for firefighters to work in a tandem so they completed the exercise individually.
The unit can get up to about 130 C in temperature and, “simulate realistic fireground conditions including real fire, heat, humidity, low visibility and utilize theatrical smoke,” to create, “a controlled yet challenging environment that closely mirrors conditions that firefighters face on scene in real emergencies,”
Chadwick wrote.
The objective of the training unit is to help firefighters build the key skills they need for fire suppression, search and rescue, communication and situational awareness. The mobile unit and training provided follow National Fire Protection Association Standards and is at the same level as full-time urban firefighters, “ensuring consistency and compliance with recognized safety and performance standards,” Chadwick added.
“The Mobile Live Fire Training Units support the professional development of Ontario’s fire services and reinforce the province’s commitment to public safety,” and are a cost-effective way to undertake training without the need to travel long distances or build costly
infrastructure locally.
The KHR crews took the training seriously. They were fully equipped in bunker gear and used communication and safety devices as they would at a real fire. Captain and trainer Devon Murphy instructed his crews to work the training “with purpose” just as they would at a real fire and not take the exercise lightly. When each crew emerged from the training unit they briefed their fellow team members about what they could expect inside.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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