Training Day

Keeping cool

I was lucky enough to spend part of an afternoon and early evening with crews this month from two area firehouses during a training exercise. Departments from the towns of Hadley and Leverett met on the site of an abandoned property along Route 9 to conduct some search and vent training with the help of a smoke machine in a house slated to be torn down in the coming months. It was a humid day and the focus was also on keeping hydrated during the exercises.

Directions being given from Hadley Chief-Mike Spankenbel

Giving last minute reminders to the Leverett crews

Small teams from each department alternated entering the structure and venting through a second floor window. Department chiefs observed both in and outside the structure, and gave feedback to the teams once their run-through was completed. The opportunity to watch this training session was fascinating to me,  I happily stood and watched for the duration of the training, swatting away bugs and dripping with the heat. (Remember bug spray for another session!) Thanks to Chief Mike Spankenbel for the opportunity to watch these teams in action. It was really difficult to pick photos from the over 200 that I shot that day for this post. My favorite ones are of course the ones that show the faces of the firefighters themselves- their intensity and focus on the training.