Feeling the heat has no substitute

There’s no better way to learn about a profession than to actually do it.

Back in December, I got an email from Portland Fire Chief Mike Weitzel. He was inviting me and others to take part in Winchester Fire Department’s inaugural Fire Ops 101 event.

I set the email aside.

When I ran into Weitzel weeks later, he asked me if I had thought about participating, encouraged me to do so and said the deadline to sign up had been extended. I’m glad he did.

I signed up, and on March 13 I made the drive south to the Winchester Fire Department Training Grounds for a day I’ll never forget.

Fire Ops 101 was a one-day program that featured hands-on firefighting and rescue operations simulations. Winchester Fire Department hosted the event, with firefighters from Portland and through Randolph County participating.

If I remember correctly, there were a total of 15 “civilians” — mostly media and area elected officials — participating with probably at least twice as many firefighters on hand. The civilians were split into four groups, with mine also including Portland clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips and State Rep. J.D. Prescott. (Phillips and I were the only civilian participants from Jay County.)

We went through four different modules, each about 50 minutes long, with a 10-minute break in between.

Here was our day:

1) Extrication. We learned the steps of taking apart a car in order to extricate a trapped individual. This included everything from making sure the car is properly braced, to cutting out the windshield with a saw, to cutting off the doors with hydraulic rescue tools (commonly known as the “jaws of life”).

2) Live fire. We put on the full firefighting gear, from boots to helmet and including breathing apparatus, and entered a live fire situation. It was staged in a large shipping container, giving us the opportunity to experience the extreme heat. Our particular group experienced temperatures over 1,100 degrees.

3) A “full code.” This was a simulation of a situation in which we were called to the home of someone who was feeling dizzy. That individual then passed out — not breathing, no pulse. Using a dummy, we went through the steps of administering CPR, using a defibrillator and making an ambulance run to a hospital.

4) Search and rescue. It’s exactly what it sounds like. We scaled a firetruck ladder three stories, entered a dark, smoky building and searched for a body. Upon finding the body in zero visibility, we had to haul it down a flight of stairs and make our way to the front door.

Among the lessons I learned:

•The more personnel, the better. In any emergency situation, it helps to have an extra set of hands, an extra set of eyes.

•Equipment is key. They are expensive, but devices like thermal imaging cameras, hydraulic rescue tools and automatic CPR machines can be the difference between life and death.

•Knowledge is power. The amount of information the firefighters on hand shared about various firefighting situations was astounding.

There’s no question that firefighter is a well-respected profession.

But, as I told Weitzel at the conclusion of the First Ops 101 event, there’s simply no substitute for experiencing 1,100 degrees.

To be fair, I still have only a glimmer of an idea of what it’s like to be a firefighter. I experienced four scenarios in a controlled environment, not the reality of rushing into a burning building or cutting apart a vehicle with someone’s life on the line.

I walked away thankful to Weitzel for encouraging me to take part, thankful to the firefighters from Portland and Randolph County who participated and thankful to all firefighters who go to work each day not knowing that hazardous situation they may encounter.

I appreciated the opportunity to spend just a few hours in your boots.