The Jefferson and Churdan Fire Departments recently underwent a drill that helps them with navigating certain situations where visibility is greatly reduced.

Jefferson Fire Chief Jack Williams said on Wednesday night, the departments went through a smoke-filled 53-foot trailer from the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau to get fire fighters practice maneuvering through and around different items, while crawling on their hands and knees, to simulate real-life situations that they constantly encounter when on scene of an actual structure fire.

“Once you can’t see your hand in front of your face, if they’re capable of actually being in that kind of environment. We time them to see how long they’re actually good on air. Since it’s a safe environment, if they have to, they can take their mask off and still breathe and get out. Then we have two safety officers in there that we can open doors to get them out faster if they do panic.” 

The exercise was done on the Greene County Fairgrounds, with permission from the Fair Board, and Jefferson Assistant Fire Chief Sean Schilitz explained that there were groups of two firefighters that each did the exercise and they have capabilities to still communicate with their air masks on, via an electronic amplifier that they could hear inside their masks. He pointed out that each air pack has 45 minutes of compressed air.

Williams was pleased with the results from the fire crews that did the exercise and that they do several different kinds of training throughout the year, including pumper truck drills, interior and exterior fire fighting, ventilation through the roof, extrication, among others. He added that the trailer was free of charge for them to use.