By Stacia Glenn
San Bernardino County Sun (California)
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. — They’re the men who save lives during earthquakes, building collapses, train wrecks or terrorist attacks.
Practice might not make responses to those threatening situations perfect, but firefighters must stay trained and ready.
More than 50 firefighters from six local departments - Colton, Redlands, Loma Linda, Chino, Montclair and San Bernardino County - gathered at Pacific Rail Industries in Colton on Monday morning for exercises in heavy lifting and torch cutting.
“It’s a good opportunity for trial and error,” said Colton fire Capt. Jerry Devine. “You don’t want to do that at a real-life scene.”
Crews rotated through three scenarios, using one another’s equipment and sharing ideas on how to best tackle the situations.
The first involved figuring out how to lift concrete blocks weighing more than 4,500 pounds. That could come in handy if crews need to dig through rubble to save someone who is trapped.
As practice for reaching victims trapped in a train crash, the second featured a 10,000-pound rail car that had to be lifted.
Firefighters first tried using bags made of thick rubber and filled with high-pressure air to raise the blue rail car. When that didn’t work, they pulled out jacks to stabilize the huge hunk of metal so they could work underneath.
The materials, which were mostly remains from train derailments, were provided by Pacific Rail Industries.
“They don’t get to mess with the big stuff too often,” said plant manager Lenny LaRocco with a laugh.
This is the fourth year LaRocco has opened his facility to San Bernardino County Urban Search and Rescue teams.
A third scenario gave firefighters the opportunity to use different types of cutting torches. Petrogen torches are popular because they are fueled by gas, which can be easily found during disasters. The crews also trained with propane torches and exothermic torches, which use electricity and oxygen.
Training is important because it allows the departments to see which tools are most effective in various situations and forces the men to work together, said Chino Valley Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Gaul, who is also chairman of the county urban search-and-rescue team.
“In a large disaster, we’re all going to be called in to work together,” he said. “It doesn’t matter that we come from different departments if we all have the same training.”