Last night JTFD1 members participated in our regular monthly training drill. During the drill, firefighters rotated through three different stations that were designed to develop and/or fine tune the skills that we may use at the scene of a fire. Members participating ranged from 30+ year veterans of the fire service to probationary members with about a month on the department.

One station was self-extraction through a basement window. This is a valuable skill that our firefighters will hopefully never have to use in a real-life situation. At this station, members were refreshed on how to call a mayday using the LUNAR and 3 Ws acronyms. Members were encouraged to try time tested and proven methods, such as using a tool as step, as well as share any ideas with their group so everyone involved walked away with more options.

The next station was vent, enter, search or VES. In its simplest form, VES is the expedited ventilation and search of a room where a known victim is likely to be located. At this station, members were refreshed on when VES should be implemented, and the steps that should be taken during. Members then practiced deploying a ladder both on their own, and with a partner. Members ventilated a room by removing the window, entered the room through the window, isolated the room by closing the door inside, and searched room bringing any victims to window for rescue. This is a very basic explanation of a skill that has been proven to save lives.

The last station was pitched roof ventilation. Have you ever wondered why there are firefighters cutting a hole in the roof at a fire scene? This is a strategy that we use to draw out the heat, smoke, gasses, and other byproducts of fire to make it easier for our interior crews to operate. Ventilation may look chaotic, but it is a heavily coordinated strategy between our crew on the roof, the interior crews, and the Incident Commander. 

All of the props used in last night’s evolutions were built in house by members of the Department. Countless hours of planning and construction have gone in to developing the cache of training materials we are able to provide to our firefighters. JTFD1 prides itself on the training we regularly provide our members to ensure that they are able to keep their skills fresh, and do their job to the best of their abilities. 

JTFD1 is a 100% volunteer organization. Interested in joining our team? Visit our firehouse at 162 Milton Road any Tuesday night at 7:30pm to pick up an application and ask any questions you may have.