Being a fire fighter is a tough job, and the training for that job is no joke. A UK fire department has found an unlikely partner in a local self-storage facility, that will help the fire fighters train.
Last Sunday residents of Worcester could watch a number of fire trucks and about 60 fire fighters milling about the local Green Self Storage. Fortunately, they were not putting out a real fire in one of the self- storage units, but training. They practiced techniques to put out fires and rescue people.
In the scenario that station commander Toby Kempton set up, the teams were asked to put out the fire and rescue three hostages in the complex labyrinth of the self-storage facility.
“The exercise itself went extremely well,” Kempton told the Worcester News. “We set certain objectives to put out the fire and perform rescues. It’s a difficult job in this complex layout. They achieved all the goals set for them…the exercise demonstrates to the fire crews the difficulties in performing breathing apparatus search and rescues in complex buildings, such as this.”
The firefighters were challenged with rescuing a person unable to walk, as well as some that were unconscious. While the conditions did allow for personnel to work in a dark, smoky environment they were unable to simulate the intense heat that they would be present in a real emergency.
Mr. Kempton added, “If there was a fire situation in here, because of the nature of the building, it would heat up to 1,000 degrees in minutes. It would be like an oven.”
This is not the first time that a self-storage facility has been used to help train first responders. A number of facilities have assisted their local police departments with training drug dogs. Crete Self Storage in Crete, Illinois, used to allow local law enforcement agencies to hide drugs in units for their dogs to find. Kangaroo Self Storage in Glasgow, Scotland, used to do so as well amongst its hundreds of units spread across three floors.
