Firefighters Go Back To School

by Laura Monteverdi, Reporter
October 19, 2012 5:20 PM



Firefighters from across the state completed a rescue school training course on Friday. The students at the training ground worked on different exercises as part of the course.

Battalion Chief, Jay Titus, said the excercises were physically demanding.

He said, “In one area they will be building different types of shores, to shore up a building that has collapsed and the other part of it will be simulated like a parking ramp collapse and they have to breach different materials to reach a simulated victim.”

Some of the materials they cut through included concrete, metal and even common household items such as a mattress. Titus said the students had to also pass a written test before they were certified.

He said, “We give them a certificate that they passed and they go home to their own jurisdictions and then certify them to be structural collapse technicians.”

Though the training was demanding, firefighter Dave Wallace said that it was a great learning tool.

He said, “Everyone has something to bring to the program and you learn a lot of things. I can take this back to my crew and maybe pass along a few new ideas.”

Firefighter Adam Heinrich said that everything they learned during their training will help prepare the firefighters for real life situations once they return home.

He said, “Hopefully it never happens but in the event it does we will have several guys on our team to go in and make the right decisions that will be safe for us as firefighters and safe for our patients.”

The training included firefighters from Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Watertown and Rapid City.