VIEWFINDER: Firefighters Train for Summer Dry-Out as Gilroy Heats Up

Firefighters Josh Guerriera and Ryan Coy heaved on special backpacks containing hundreds of feet of coiled hose, marching off into the brush behind the Christmas Hill Park ranch area.

It was different than the kind of hose used inside the city: Lighter and narrower, the 200-foot sections of special wildland hose were designed to be easier to carry.

Come August, when the brush surrounding Gilroy is the driest it will be all year, practicing to lay thousands of feet of hose within minutes could be the crucial skill that prevents a wildfire from growing out of control.

On Tuesday, all three of Gilroy’s fire stations took part in a training exercise to practice fighting fires in remote wildland areas, including the landscape surrounding the city.

The “progressive hose lay” was part of continuing training held to prepare for the oncoming fire season and beyond.

The length of a hose lay is practically limitless, said Capt. Tim Price, but changes in length and elevation require constant recalculating of the pressure required in the system.

Check out the photo captions for more information about the training.