TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Fire Department answers thousands of calls a year. And Tuesday, several companies did some training to brush up on the basics.
Each call to the Tulsa Fire Department is different and that’s why it’s so important to train for every possible scenario to help save lives.
Inside a structure fire, it’s nearly impossible to see. But before firefighters can put out the fire, they have to get in. So Tuesday’s training covered forcible entry and rescue.
“We work as a two man team to overcome the door using techniques where we basically don’t damage each other or the door,” said Captain Mike Rodriguez.
And this type of training is imperative to get the job done.
“One house fire might have a scenario where flames coming out the front, you might have something coming out the back, you might have a rescue, you might not. You don’t know what you’re walking into so you have to be prepared for anything,” said Captain John Ober.
Captain Ober said while Tuesday’s training is basic, it’s step one of firefighting.
“All these skills that we do, that we’re using right now are what we call firefighter 1 and firefighter 2 skills. These are the basic things they’re gonna learn in the academy, we’re just refreshing them out here and we’re putting it all together in one big scenario so they can use multiple of those skills at one time,” said Ober.
And as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.
“Things are gonna go right, sometimes things are gonna go wrong in training or real life. So, if we’re gonna make a mistake, we want to try to make a mistake out here, see what we did wrong and try to get better,” said Rodriguez.
TFD trains year round so when the call does come, they’ll be ready.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere —