By Nathan Chiochios
Chico Enterprise-Record
CHICO, Calif. — The Chico Fire Department held a live burn training exercise for seven newly-hired firefighters who were brought on to staff the incoming Engine 1, to be housed at Station 1.
Deputy Fire Chief Chris Zinko said the live trainings are important for the new recruits to get actual hands-on training.
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“They’re going to be expected to be proficient out there (in the real world). We have high expectations of our personnel, and so we put them through the training and they have to do well, and we make sure they do,” he said. “Today, I’m very impressed with everything I’m seeing. In fact, they’re all better than I was, so there’s that.
The firefighters saw several different scenarios at the department’s fire training grounds at the Chico Municipal Services Center. Zinko said they practiced forcible entry through multiple types of doors, adding that they made it so they practiced with the most difficult doors on their own. The recruits also practiced multi-story rescues, “Vent Enter Search” training, ventilation tactics and coordination with other firefighters.
Cody Vaeth, one of the seven new firefighters, said the training scenarios are very helpful in getting ready for real-world fires.
“It’s kind of getting us ready for the real-life thing when someone’s in an emergency, getting used to having our adrenaline pumping and how we’re going to react in the heat of the moment,” Vaeth said. “Especially with utilizing different skills and making sure you’re crossing all you’re crossing your Ts and dotting your Is.”
Vaeth has been firefighting for three years, first volunteering in Hamilton City, where he said he got his fundamentals and learned different aspects of fire service. He then went to the Butte College Fire Training Academy last spring, which he said was hard but built character. After that, he worked for the Marin County Fire Department last summer, and then five months ago, found out he got a spot in the Chico Fire Department, and has been training ever since.
Vaeth will be part of the crew that will man the new Engine 1 in downtown Chico beginning on March 9. Zinko said the department had an engine in downtown along with a firetruck, but it lost funding for it after the recession. However, Zinko said there was a need for an engine in the area, and it was determined that Engine 1 would come back.
Zinko also said the Salem Street area, where Engine 1 will be stationed, was only served by a firetruck.
“The downtown neighborhood has always been busy, but what we ended up having to do is use our truck as an engine and a truck, and they are very large vehicles, so you really don’t like when they’re having to go to every single call because it puts a lot of wear and tear on a $2 million vehicle,” he said. “We’re finally getting back to where we’re going to have engines doing engine work, and that’s going to help us elongate our apparatus, and it’s also going to help us get to citizens quicker.”
Vaeth also said having more firefighters and a new engine will help keep the community safer.
“I think having more firefighters means you’re getting to fires quicker, which is always great, being able to protect people’s lives, their property, and then protecting the environment, that’s the name of the game,” he said. “So having more resources at our availability really does help out the city of Chico as a whole, so very exciting time to be coming on to Chico for myself.”
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