By Kelli Gauthier
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
Copyright 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Company

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga Fire Department cadets stepped outside the classroom Monday night to fight their first big fire during a training exercise at their Moccasin Bend facility.

Training Chief Chris Adams said Monday's fires would give the cadets, who are in their fourth month of the six-month fire academy, some practical experience.

"This gives them a sense of realism because we've talked about it in the classroom, but when they come out here, they're going to feel it," he said.

During the training, teams of two cadets and one instructor made their way through three fire sites. Each blaze was designed to look and feel like a natural gas fire at an industrial site, and cadets extinguished the flames with purple potassium chloride powder.

"The first simulates a high pressure (gas) line that burst, the ground fire is like if a contractor dug in the wrong spot and hit a pipe, and the last is like a pipe in the ground that major machinery rolled over," he said.

During the exercise, Chief Adams controlled the amount of natural gas flowing to each fire site, and additional firefighters were on hand with extinguishers in case any of the flames got out of hand.

Although he had to turn off the flow of gas several times, Chief Adams said he was confident that the cadets were trained sufficiently for the exercise.

"There's a lot of foundation we lay before they get to this point," he said.

Chief Adams said in the eight years he has been training cadets, he only remembers about four fires similar to the ones simulated Monday.

"It doesn't happen too frequently, but when it does, it's spectacular," he said. "When it happens, you've got to get it out before it turns into a larger incident. It can be devastating."

Chief Adams said he hoped Monday's training reinforced that cadets must use the proper technique and rely on their equipment.

After his first round of fires, cadet Shawn O'Kelley said he felt prepared.

"I could really feel the heat over there. It was pretty intense. But our gear protects us, and our training really comes into play," he said.

Until this point, cadets have spent time in emergency medical technician training, hazardous material instruction, incident protocol and department history.

Cadet Matt Rorex said he had been looking forward to the chance to fight a fire.

"We've been waiting 15 weeks now to finally see a flame," he said. "This is the best job in the world."

Early in the evening, Mr. Rorex said the flames were almost too easy to put out.

Chief Adams said the cadets had at least three more hours of training, and the scenarios created by instructors would get increasingly more difficult.

"We have to see how they react under stress," he said. "It's life and death for the firefighter and for the citizens of Chattanooga. Not everyone is meant to be a firefighter."