Breaking through a wall is one way a firefighter can escape a dangerous situation if his primary route is blocked, as recruit Wesley Swaim learns here.

By Alison James

alison.james@fct.wpengine.com

Sheetrock dust filled the air as rookie firefighters used a Denver tool to smash a hole in the wall between apartments 3 and 4 and create a way of escape. A sense of urgency pervaded the room while each man fought his way through a 14.5-inch space to safety.

It wasn’t a fire that forced these recruits through this maneuver. Ten men completed this and other training as part of preparing for Rapid Intervention Team certification – week eight of a nine-week recruit school held at least once a year out of Muscle Shoals.

A residence housing four apartments – donated by a local family – on Highway 24 just south Russellville served as the training spot for the recruits. Russellville firefighter Andy Devaney, who works part-time for the fire college, said these men, ages 19-34, had been working five days a week, eight hours a day, “sometimes a little more,” to become certified in Firefighter 1, Firefighter 2, HAZMAT Awareness & Operations and Rapid Intervention Team.

Instructor Pat Collins of Muscle Shoals said having an unfamiliar building in which to train for Rapid Intervention Team makes it more realistic than using one of the fire college’s standard training facilities.

“It gives them something new to work on,” Collins said.

A Rapid Intervention Team activates when a fellow firefighter is down or when firefighters must use special maneuvers to escape a burning building, perhaps because their original exit has been compromised. One technique focus Thursday was “breaching a wall.”

“If we get stuck in a room … what we can do is go through a wall and into another structure and protect ourselves from getting burned or having serious injuries,” explained Josh Hamlin, assistant instructor.

When first realizing he is in a potential RIT situation, a firefighter begins by reporting mayday and giving a LUNAR report – sharing vital information with command officer outside the structure about location, unit, name, air supply level and resources available.

In addition to smashing through walls, recruits in Thursday’s training learned how to use an exterior anchor to drag a down comrade to safety and how to use a firefighter hose to exit through the window of a second story building.

For recruit Will Kelley out of Muscle Shoals, becoming a firefighter is “something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid. Everybody loves firefighters,” he said. But “it’s a lot harder than I expected it to be.”

Carrying about 125 pounds of weight, between the suit and the necessary equipment and tools, the recruits pushed on through one of the hottest days yet of this Alabama summer. But at the end of it all, this week, the 10 rookies will graduate. Half of them are training already as members of local departments; half are self-sponsored recruits hoping to be hired to help protect the communities the love.

“It isn’t a cake walk,” said Lt. Patrick Hall out of Muscle Shoals. “These guys are getting some of the best training.”