By Sebastian Restrepo
masslive.com
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Firefighters from across the state gathered near a state prison Tuesday to practice rescuing people trapped in collapsed buildings and under heavy objects.
Twenty-seven firefighters spent the day at the Department of Fire Services training facility — which repurposed land in 2019 next to the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater — learning to cut through steel using torches, stabilizing collapsing structures and rigging cars to cranes.
| WEBINAR: What firefighters want from training
They will go through an 80-hour technical rescue program, spread over eight days, honing technical rescue skills. To become certified, firefighters must pass various tests at the end of their training program.
Mark McCabe, program director for the Department of Fire Services, brings more than 30 years of experience as a firefighter and more than 20 years working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His technical rescue experiences range from natural disasters to working at ground zero after 9/11.
“These skills are in high demand,” McCabe said Tuesday.
Firefighters represented the fire departments in Acushnet, Agawam, Bourne, Braintree, Brewster, Brockton, Brookline, Centerville - Osterville - Marstons Mills, Charlton, Clinton, Dedham, Dudley, Fall River, Gloucester, Lowell, Mansfield, Marlborough, Oxford, Quincy, Stow, Sudbury, Wellesley, Westborough and Worcester, according to the department’s spokesperson, Jake Wark.
Teams of firefighters work to shore up and stabilize a simulated collapsing wall during a training held at the Department of Fire Services Bridgeater training facility. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Teams of firefighters work to shore up and stabilize a simulated collapsing wall during a training held at the Department of Fire Services Bridgeater training facility. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Teams of firefighters work to shore up and stabilize a simulated collapsing wall during a training held at the Department of Fire Services Bridgeater training facility. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Teams of firefighters work to shore up and stabilize a simulated collapsing wall during a training held at the Department of Fire Services Bridgeater training facility. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
An instructor helps teams of firefighters navigate the challenges of stabilizing a simulated collapsed wall as needed during technical rescue. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Bridgewater, Mass.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters get to celebrate successfully stabilizing a simulted collapsed wall by putting the entire on top of their structure. As pictured on Wdnesaday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Bridgewater, Mass. during a training program teaching firefighters technical rescue skills.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters learn shoring techniques to stabilize collapsed structures during a training program at the Department of Fire Services Bridgewater facility. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters work a crane operater to safely rig and lift a heavy object during a simulated rescue at the Deparmtnet of Fire Services technical rescue training program at their Bridgewater campus on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
A team of firefighters work with a crane operator to rig and lift a vehicle during a technical rescue training exercise where they practice the rigging and hand motions to communicate with the operator in the crane. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Bridgewater, Mass.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters work with a crane operator to rig and lift a heavy concrete structure during a technical rescue training program at the Department of Fire Services bridgewater training campus on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters learn various techniques using oxy-acetylene and propane torches to cut through steel during a technical rescue program held at the Department of Fire Services training facility in Bridgewater, Mass. as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters learn various techniques using oxy-acetylene and propane torches to cut through steel during a technical rescue program held at the Department of Fire Services training facility in Bridgewater, Mass. as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters learn various techniques using oxy-acetylene and propane torches to cut through steel during a technical rescue program held at the Department of Fire Services training facility in Bridgewater, Mass. as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
f/irefighters learn how to use various types of torches including oxy-acetylene and propane to cut through various mediums as required during technical resuces. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Bridgewater Mass. during an eight day, 80 hour training course for firefighters from all across Massachusetts.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters practice having to cut throgh eight inch thick rebar reinforced concrete with wet saws to access a person trapped below the concrete as part of a technical rescue program at the Department of Fire Services Bridgewater Campus as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters train drilling upwards through a hole in the floor of a thick concrete slab to rescue a victim that is trapped above the slab. As pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Bridgewater, Mass. during a technical rescue training program.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters practice cutting through a slab of concrete to rescue someone underneath without dropping the cutout on the victim during a technical rescue training program run by the Department of Fire Services at their Bridgewater training facility on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Firefighters simulate having to cut throgh eight inch thick rebar reinforced concrete to access a person trapped below the concrete as part of a technical rescue program at the Department of Fire Services Bridgewater Campus as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
A firefighter emerges through a hole that was cut in a thick concrete slab to access a victim that was trapped above it during a technical rescue training program at the Department of Fire Services Bridgewater training facility on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
A view of the Department of Fire Services training facility in Bridgewater, Mass as pictured on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.
Sebastian Restrepo/TNS
Gloucester firefighter Jeff Budrow worked Tuesday with wet saws cutting through 8-inch-thick, rebar-reinforced concrete. His clothes were dripping with concrete slurry from the training, but he was smiling ear to ear.
“I was born and raised in Gloucester and there’s a regional (technical rescue) team up near us and I’m trying to get on that team,” Budrow said.
Firefighters will spend time in classrooms learning about rigging heavy and awkward loads, stabilizing precariously collapsed structures and rescuing victims when a structure around them provides no access to first responders.
Sudbury firefighter Stephanie Scoles grew up in California and said she draws inspiration from firefighters who responded to earthquakes in that state.
The firefighters are taught construction skills with tools that might not typically be found on a truck. Firefighters used circular saws and speed squares and donned tool belts while building a temporary shoring structure against a wall that simulates a collapsing structure. At one point in the training, the teams of firefighters celebrated successfully stabilizing the wall with everyone climbing on the wooden structure to test its strength.
McCabe says this newer facility will help the Department of Fire Services train more firefighters to be specialists. Costs for this type of training at out-of-state facilities approach $4,000 per firefighter. For Massachusetts firefighters, the Commonwealth offers the training at no cost.
What technical rescue training do you wish you had more of? Why?
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit masslive.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
