Copyright 2006 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
By TONI LEPESKA
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
They carried 180-pound dummies through heat and smoke, up basements to attics, and figured out ways to reach victims over water and dangling in a plane.
At the end of the week of rescue and firefighting scenarios, they attained a rating that no other Olive Branch firefighters had ever achieved.
Lt. Mike Archer, 35, and Lt. Brett Yoakum, 26, were named Certified Advanced Rescue Specialists after training at the fire academy in Pearl near Jackson.
“It’s pretty hard to accomplish,” fire Chief Johnny Eason said. “They did a good job.”
The pair of lieutenants were the first Olive Branch firefighters to ever attend the school for certification. Others are expected to follow in the fall.
To be accepted, a firefighter already has to be medically trained, certified as a specialized diver, learn rescue techniques and undergo other specialized training that could include hazardous materials or confined-space rescues.
“They’ve got to have all that just to get into the class,” Eason said. “It takes years to get some of that stuff.”
Archer, who works at Station 1 across from City Hall, said he set a goal of attaining the certification a decade ago after becoming a certified “smoke diver.”
“I’ve been trying to get this about 10 years,” he said. “It’s pretty much the top class they offer as far as firefighting is concerned.
“It wasn’t like they were teaching you. It was like they were testing you,” he said.
Despite scenarios that forced him to push the limits of his body in heated, smoke-filled rooms, Archer said he never doubted he would finish the week.
“That didn’t cross my mind,” Archer said. “I put my mind to something, I go for it. I don’t give up until I get what I want.”
For Yoakum, who works at Station 3 on Hacks Cross Road, the most challenging part of the class was when a small Cessna was suspended by a crane next to a tower to simulate a crash into the tower.
Firefighters had to figure out a way up to rescue someone in the plane. Yoakum climbed, making a safety rope as he ascended, then dangled on the edge of the plane to get to the victim.
The students also had to build a boat to cross a lake and get a victim caught in a pine tree.
The high-energy, on-the-edge week was well suited for Yoakum.
He was drawn to firefighting as a profession partly for the rush.
“I’ve always been an adrenaline junkie,” he said.