Firefighters Get Training in Searching Collapsed Buildings
It’s called Urban Search and Rescue training, on Friday they got to use everything they’ve learned in a realistic simulation.
CHIEF DANIEL HAGUE , CFD, TACTICAL SERVICES "The scenario we’ve got is that the house has been hit by a tornado …we have a report of a family of 4 people inside, for the purpose of this training event."
Firefighters are often called-on to do than put out flames. Sometimes there’s no smoke..but its still a potentially life-threatening situation–like a damaging storm.
CHIEF DANIEL HAGUE "The urban search and rescue team had a partial activation in 2011 when the tornadoes hit Apison, Ringgold and CHattanooga …also they did the tornadoes in 2012 in Harrison."
The 32 students have been studying for 5 weeks.
In this realistic training on Laura street, the building has collapsed and is not safe for even rescuers to go inside.
CAPT. DAVID TALLENT, TACTICAL SERVICES "(they’ll).. be certified in 4 different disciplines..once we get done here. We’ve got hang a rope rescue, we’ve got confined space, trench rescue and building collapse."
The students are from departments in Chattanooga, Bradley county and even Erlanger Medical Center.
MICHAEL PRINCE, BRADLEY CO. FIRE DEPT. "It allows us to be able to be pretty versatile..as far as ..up toward Bradley county if there’s anything ..disaster or anything …we can deploy quicker."
It may not happen often, but events like this require just as much specialized training as putting out fires.
CHIEF DANIEL HAGUE "This is a low frequency, high risk operation …periodic training like this allows our members to keep their skills sharp."
Leave a Reply