INDIAN ISLAND — The Navy Region Northwest Fire and Emergency Services training division has brought a whole new experience to Indian Island.
For two weeks, firefighters from East Jefferson County will have a chance to enter into a 52-foot long, two story, steel trailer and practice fighting real fires.
Opportunity for ‘live fire’
“You get the opportunity to enter and train in a live fire,” said Navy Region Northwest Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Chief Joe Spaulding.
“We can turn on fires in different locations, let it roll along the ceiling and get the smoke going in there as well.”
“Plus, this model lets you simulate cutting through a roof into a building, entering into a basement and crawling through confined spaces and hatches,” said Spaulding.
“For what it does, it really is pretty neat.”
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue, Fire and Emergency Services Station 91 from Indian Island and Station 61 from Bangor all took part in the training at the naval base Monday morning for their first day in the simulator.
For two weeks, the Mobile Live Fire Training Trailer, which was custom-made by FireBlast — a company specializing in training props for firefighters — will be available for use. Then it will travel to another destination in the region and give others a chance to train.
Throughout the year, the unit will rotate among locations in Everett, Whidbey Island, Bremerton, Bangor and Indian Island.
Naval Magazine Indian Island Commander Mark Loose said he was thrilled to have the local firefighters on the base training with his fire district.
“Out here, we all support each other, and it’s important to work together,” Loose said.
“Indian Island is here for events like this and welcomes this type of joint training.”
Spaulding said having the fire districts work together in training situations strengthens the local mutual-aid agreements when it comes time to fight a real fire together.
“Beyond entering in and getting the feel and visual experience of a fire, it gives everyone a chance to meet and work together,” he said.
“That is something we have discussed. We all want to share our resources with each other within the mutual-aid agreements.”
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Ted Krysinski said once the prop training is completed, he will be welcoming the Navy firefighters to his district’s training grounds for work in heavy vehicle extrication.
“We train with them and, in return, they train with us,” Krysinski said.
“It’s a good trade, because you can be creative with something like this mobile unit.
“When we burn a house for training, it takes engineering to get fire to roll across a ceiling. Here, you just press a button.”
There is one room inside the trailer that doesn’t require fire gear to enter — a command center where an operator chooses what ignites and when.
As the operator watches what tactics the firefighters use to put out a stove fire, he or she can choose to ignite a couch to their left and change the entire engagement in an instant.
There are many built-in safety devices in the unit, one of which shuts the entire operation down if the interior temperature reaches 500 degrees.
Other training exercises that can be undertaken in the unit are forcible entry, flashovers, Rapid Intervention Team training, simulated vessel fires and the Denver Prop — a hallway that measures 28 inches wide, 8 feet long, with a window at one end, designed after the actual dimensions of the confined area that claimed the life of a firefighter in 1992.
“One of the big pluses to this training unit is our ability to utilize a panel system that allows us to change the configuration of the different rooms in the unit,” Spaulding said.
“Firefighters might enter one of the rooms during a training evolution and then turn right to get to the next room.
“Next time they train, the configuration of the room can be entirely different.”
Spaulding said the prop was incredibly important in preparing firefighters for the real deal.
“[Some firefighters] think well, it’s just a training prop,” he said.
“The thing of it is, whether in a simulator or a structure, fire is fire.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
