Patch Leads Firefighting Search During Drill

I'll never forget my first "fire."

I was 8 or 9 years old. I walked home from school and when I unlocked the door, smoke came pouring out. So much, in fact, that I had trouble seeing anything beyond the cloud. 

The deafening sound of our home's smoke detectors rang in my ears and I was terrified. 

I called 9-1-1 and reported that my house was on fire. My uncle, a volunteer firefighter, responded, and for this little girl, saved the day. He teases me about the fact that the "fire" amounted to smoke from a pot my mom had forgotten to remove from the stove before going to work. All of the water had evaporated and the pot burned, causing lots of smoke and sending the detectors into a frenzy.

...

Call it a precursor to my most recent "fire." On April 16, I accompanied the volunteers from Enterprise Fire Company on a live burn drill of 121 W. Lehman Ave., a home slated for demolition.

Outfitted in fire turnout gear, a helmet, boots and an axe, I crawled into the smoke-filled room, feeling my way along the walls, sliding my axe out onto the wooden floor to search for building inhabitants and check the floor stability.

Besides being weighed down with roughly 30 pounds of gear–50 or more pounds for full-fledged firefighters wearing masks and air packs–I learned that firefighters also have radios, flashlights and some type of hand tool in their possession.

"It's a safety issue," Fire Chief Keith Gordon told me of the hand tools. "They can't get out with their bare hands."

Gordon then shared that I'd be leading this particular search and rescue. In reality, Lieutenant Justin Heger, my crew for this effort, reminded me that I needed to feel my way around the room and that we couldn't forget to search for potential building occupants.

Since this was a drill, the only people in the building were other firefighters, but the point is to sharpen those firefighting skills during practice so that when the real time comes it's second nature.

In that short span of working as one of the firefighters, I also learned the importance of communication and teamwork. Every step–or crawl of the way, rather–firefighters talk, ask questions of each other and make sure that everyone is safe.

"Never leave your crew," Gordon had told me. "Always stay together."

Click here for the introductory video of this firefighting series. 

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