Not so live fire training drill ideas needed

[BIGRED1 71]

I am trying to put together a drill for the smoke house up at the county smoke house. i know you cant burn in there but what should i use as a fire subsitute? we have used road flares in the past but they just don't do it for me. does anyone know of a better substitute? i thought of maybe bundling a few together. what do other departments use?

also any ideas on how to spice up the cellar? it is always kinda the same old drill and i want to kinda suprize my guys. maybe a "collapse" with a firefighter trapped under something. just asking for ideas.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

First let me say as a disclaimer, the ideas expressed in this post reflect my own personal views, and not any agency or department I work for, deal with or am a member of.

First, if you are using flares for smoke, that can be considered a live fire being there is a chemcial chain reaction causing combustion. Ask ahead of time to see if there are portable smoke machines available to utilize. Also keep in mind that the burn sim can be used just with smoke, although you have to communicate with the county that is your intention. That way there are no other depts. there that will want to complain that your only using smoke and they wanted it that night for live fire exercises.

As far as the cellar, chock all the outside doors shut from the outside, and see how the crews handle not being able to egress. Will they go to a rapid window and door search? Do they call a mayday immediately? Just make sure you have procedures in place to clearly define how to announce that you have a real injury or in the event (and you never know) that someone freaks out, there are people there to unchock the doors immediately. Throw things at them, searching in hallway, fire in a room behind them what do they do? etc.

[BIGRED1 71]

thanks als. we mainly use the cellar when whe cant get the burn house. if we can get the burn house, we are burnin it up.

we do use a smoke machine, so the flares are not used for smoke, more for the illusion of fire. do you guys have anything up at the county that i could use to simulate a ceilling collapse? like something that could be put on top of a "body" for S&R ops. also next time we are up there can we grab one of those rescue dummies from the garage? would simulate dead weight when trying to get a downed guy out.

[HFD23 37]

my self and HFD209 built a floor collapse simulator for our department, it was about 4 feet wide by 6 feet long, had 4 sheet rock walls, and a piece of sheet rock as the top, it had ramp and we would lay a house line and or a rope and send 2 guys in to back up the line or replace 2 member who were searching with a rope, and then suddenly they would go through the floor dropping about a foot and 1/2 into an area we had pads. the idea would be how long it took for one of the firefighters to react and call a may day, if u want any further info u can private message me...

also to simulate fire get a metal garbage can, cut strips in it, just slits around the bottom... then drop a space heater in it. it will glow hot and is great to show fire on a thermal imaging camera, just a few suggestions...

[BIGRED1 71]

hey ALS,

do they have any blueprint layouts of the cellar in the smoke house up at the county? i wanted to have an over head view so i could plan my drill layout and see what doors open in and out.

i did like the "chock the door" idea to see how guys would react to the entrapment situation. i don't think we can use a heating unit in the smoke house. maybe if i used a flood light in the can? plus if we flow water in there basement with a heating unit that would be a real hazard and i have no plans of loseing a guy doing a training drill. ;-)

[Guest alsfirefighter]

If you have a fencing company in your area, see if they have any old chain link fence sections just lying around, like a 6' or bigger size, use that to throw over them with 2 people and then stand on it.