175 volunteers from 25 departments got hands-on training and took classes at the Texas Firefighters Roundup at the Northwest Campus
By Jason Buch
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, Texas — Structure fires at Tarrant County College Northwest Campus had to be put out at least 20 times this weekend.
Firefighters from 25 regional departments did their part to fight the blazes. But every time one department extinguished a fire, a TCC instructor pushed a button, and the flames shot back up.
About 175 volunteer firefighters underwent intense training this weekend at the fourth annual Texas Firefighters Roundup at TCC’s Fire Service Training Center. The center offered 13 field and classroom courses tailored for volunteer fire departments. The field exercises included courses such as live fire training, swift-water awareness and vehicle extrication.
James Craft, the center’s assistant coordinator and a former Dallas Fire-Rescue captain, said that because the trainees are volunteers, most of the courses were geared toward safety.
The training center, which opened in October 2002, is billed as the “largest known computer controlled, gas-fired training facility in the world.” It has an artificial town that includes an apartment complex/hotel, three residential buildings, a retail strip center, a high rise, a warehouse, an artificial river and a simulated train wreck.
Only two residential buildings were used in this weekend’s live fire exercises.
Tommy Abercrombie, the center’s administrative coordinator, said that before the training center opened, TCC offered certification classes to about 400 firefighters a year. Now, he said, the center trains about 12,000 people each year.
“It’s been a pretty dramatic growth for us,” Abercrombie said. “We’re still trying to catch our breath. We train in some form or fashion almost all of the Tarrant County fire departments.”
Here’s a look at some of the courses:
Live fire
Firefighters like to put out fires, and this is the most popular course, Craft said. Volunteers trained at simulated one- and two-story residential structures. Artificial smoke filled the buildings while trainees tried to put out kitchen, car, bedroom and attic fires. Some rooms are equipped with devices called rollovers that shoot flames across the ceiling, simulating the ignition of gases gathering above firefighters’ heads.
Vehicle extrication
Damaged vehicles littered a parking lot on the edge of the “town.” Trainees used those vehicles to practice extrication. They used hydraulic extraction devices to practice removing doors, roofs and steering wheels. Instructors showed the volunteers how to stabilize overturned vehicles and vehicles lying on their sides and taught them about the electrical dangers of hybrid automobiles and how to avoid inflating airbags that haven’t deployed.
Emergency driving
A large paved area serves as an emergency vehicle proving ground for police and fire vehicles. Trainees practiced navigating obstacles and were taught the proper techniques for turning and reversing firetrucks.
Wildfires
Offered for the first time this year, the wild land firefighting course was taught by Larry Weaver of the Texas Forest Service. The course focused on informing volunteers about the factors that can affect a wildfire’s behavior, such as weather and topography.
Pump operations
Trainees learned how to operate several types of fire hoses at different pressures and using different fire apparatuses -- hose nozzles -- as well as learning proper equipment maintenance and care.
Class A compressed foam
Class A compressed foam is better for putting out a contained fire than water, said Domenic Colletti, author of The Rural Firefighting Handbook. However, it is only effective against ordinary, nonchemical combustibles such as wood or paper. The foam is made up of water mixed with a very small amount of synthetic detergent and expelled with an air compressor, said Colletti, who taught the course and represents Hale Products, a manufacturer of emergency service equipment.
Gas pipelines/gas well emergencies
Knowledge of the design and inherent dangers of gas pipelines enables first responders to minimize the danger to themselves, Craft said. This course informed trainees about the dangers and common design schemes.
Swift-water awareness
The facility’s artificial river can send 45,000 gallons of water per minute rushing between its banks. Trainees learned how to create a network of ropes over the water for victims to grab, defensive swimming techniques and avoiding obstacles. The course focused on teaching volunteers how dangerous fast-moving water can be.
“We tell them how to safely try to rescue someone from the shore,” Craft said. “We teach them to get into the water only as a last resort.”
Reading smoke
Much about a fire can be determined by the smoke rising from it, Craft said. A firefighter arriving at a blaze can get an idea of what type of fuels are burning based on the color of the smoke. The firefighter can also judge how intense a fire is based on the amount of smoke it produces. This course taught volunteers how to interpret smoke quickly.
Copyright 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News