| At 17:30 hours on Saturday, July 14th, 2012, engine 43 from Lisbon met at West Friendship Volunteer Fire Company to begin a long night of training.
Throughout the night, units participated in many different scenarios for training purposes including dumpster and car fires, smoke in the building, service calls assisting county police, wires down, medical emergencies, motor vehicle collisions and a simulated structure fire.
The point of this training was to strengthen the team work mentality between the two departments who run calls together quite frequently. Newer members used this time to practice skills they had never encountered and more experienced members took the opportunity to refresh their skills and pass on their knowledge. Two members from Lisbon used this time to do valuable drivers training in order to become cleared drivers of the engine and ambulance.
Each "call" built on the previous and led up to two major calls at the end of the night which included a motor vehicle collision and working building fire.
Around 22:00 hours, the simulated dispatch center alerted Tower 3, Engine 31, and Ambulance 35 to a vehicle collision with one overturned, one vehicle on top of another and possibly multiple subjects trapped. Shortly after arrival, a second engine, ambulance, and rescue-engine were alerted to assist. Units on scene triaged and treated two priority 1 (serious) patients, one priority 3 (walking wounded) patient and a simulated DOA.
During the duration of the training, units operated as if the calls were actual incidents, including requesting aviation, consulting with hospitals and working as a team. It is also important to say that no one was actually injured in any incident and all the incidents were on the grounds of the Howard County Public Safety Training Center. Dummies were used to play the part of victims.
After all units cleared the motor vehicle collision and arrived in quarters, another simulated "call"-- box alarm 3-5 was alerted in the 2200 block of Scott Wheeler Drive for a commercial building fire.
Units responded to the burn building at the Public Safety Training Center and found that the building had heavy smoke showing. Engine 31 stretched a line to the rear of the building and made entry, Tower 3 placed the ladder in service and gained access to the roof, and Engine 43's crew made entry to the second floor to perform search and rescue and check for extension. Crews on both floors found "victims" and pulled them outside to safety where they were handed over to EMS crews standing by.
At the end of the night, units debriefed, packed up, and returned to service.
During the duration of the training, units operated as if the calls were actual incidents, including requesting aviation, consulting with hospitals, and working as a team. It is also important to say that no one was actually injured or ill during the trainings, and all the incidents were on the grounds of the Howard County Public Safety Training Center. Manikins were utilized to play the part of victims.
This training event is a crucial part of our day to day activities and provided us with amazing training that will be useful for years to come.
A special thank you to West Friendship Volunteer Fire Company for inviting us to be a part of the training and also for supplying everyone with plenty of water and pizza, it was greatly appreciated and a valuable learning experience. |
