White City, Ore — Jackson County Fire District 3 teamed up with Medford crews on Wednesday to light a building on fire with a person trapped inside. On purpose.
It’s as close as firefighters can get to the real thing without having to fight any flames.
“We’ve got very smoked out conditions in a building that firefighters are very unfamiliar with and we try to take our training on the road as much as we can,” said Firefighter Kelly Harrington.
A joint exercise between Fire District 3 and Medford Fire-Rescue threw the unexpected at crews.
“We simulate some fire, we simulate a rescue and the crews go in smoked out conditions and perform as they would on a real fire,” said Harrington.
Using thermal imaging cameras firefighters are able to pinpoint where victims may be, even in smoked out rooms or complete darkness.
“It’s really hard to see where that fire’s at, so that tool gets us to the seat of the fire so we can chase that fire down,” said Harrington.
With those conditions firefighters had to be ready for anything, even saving one of their own.
“What we play out here today is simulating an entrapment or a flashover or a sudden change of conditions where we have to send a crew in to save another crew,” said Harrington.
Practicing for the worst so they can be ready should the time come.
“It is something that is likely and it’s something we may encounter tonight so we want to be ready at all times for that.”
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