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September 2, 2010
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Firefighters test new digs
Published February 5, 2010
LOGANVILLE — Firefighters from all over Walton County as well as adjoining jurisdictions were in Loganville last week to take advantage of improved training facilities at the Lee Byrd Road fire station. These facilities are allowing firefighter to implement and improve on a program designed to save lives — in particular the lives of firefighters themselves.
“In the early 1990s, members of the fire services saw a need to improve skills and techniques used by firefighters,” said Loganville Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rick Morris. “A program was developed based on the idea of firefighters saving our own. The proactive program places an emphasis on awareness, common safety, team work and improved skills to help firefighters survive while doing a dangerous job.”
Chief Danny Roberts and members of the Loganville Fire Department re-modeled the old training building at Station 1 on Lee Byrd Road and fire departments from the Metro Atlanta area joined together for rapid intervention training in the facility.
Instructors were brought in from the metro area to organize the classes. Roberts also demonstrated to city officials some of the equipment used, explaining why it is essential for firefighters to have high quality safety equipment and to be trained in the techniques necessary to save lives. City officials were shown a video from a large fire department in Denver where a firefighter died even though he was close to an opening where he should have been extricated from the burning building.
“We’re taught the correct way to lift and get someone out of the area even though they might be a very heavy, dead weight,” Roberts said, going on to explain that with all the protective clothing equipment and water, a 190-pound firefighter could quite easily weigh upwards of 300 pounds by the time he needed to be removed from a danger zone.
The training building has areas built to put firefighters in likely situations the might encounter when battling a fire where they might have to dig their way out, untangle themselves or squeeze through a very small space while still carrying a lot of equipment. This is often done while wearing heavy protective gear such an airpack that helps prevent the firefighter from breathing toxic air. The situation that cost the Denver firefighter his life is duplicated in the training building to give firefighters the opportunity to simulate the situation and learn how to deal with it.
Roberts explained to officials the importance of high-quality protective gear and ongoing safety training.
“While saving the lives of firefighters is the primary focus,” Roberts said, “it also protects the city, and ultimately the taxpayers, from lawsuits from the families of firefighters should anything go wrong.”
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