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| Participants in fire
training for volunteer firefighters line up in their firefighting gear.
(Krista Harris/The Brunswick News) |
Volunteer firefighters face
real flames
Residents are safer today than they
were two days ago.
That's when volunteer firefighters
testing for certification got a face-to-face look at what it's like to enter
smoke-filled and burning buildings.
For rookie William Brown, a volunteer
with the Glynn County Fire Department, Saturday's exercise at the Brunswick
Golden Isles Airport was a life-changing experience.
"It was great," said Brown, now a
certified firefighter after completing the last requirement of what is an
eight-week course. "This whole school's been a real learning experience."
Going into the burning structure and
completing four assigned tasks was the final challenge for Brown and five other
volunteers.
The department set fire to an old
communication's station in the woods on airport property.
Glynn County Fire Department Capt.
Joe Poppell said the exercise trains and prepares volunteers for all aspects of
firefighting, including rescues and extinguishing techniques.
Each volunteer went into the building
four times. In the first exercise, each was blindfolded and sent through a maze
in the building before it was set on fire. Smoke was pumped into the structure
for the second exercise, when teams of volunteers went in to save a "victim."
The building was set on fire for the
last two exercises in which volunteers searched for a victim while battling the
blaze.
Poppell said the event is popular,
even among seasoned firefighters, who are always eager to help or participate in
the training exercise in some small or large way.
"It's something everybody looks
forward to," Poppell said. "I have to turn (helpers) down."
Volunteers have their reasons for
putting themselves through the rigors of firefighting techniques and drills.
Brown, a facility maintenance worker at the Federal Law Enforcement Training
Center, volunteered because he wanted to be more involved with the community.
"I wanted to help out within the
community," Brown said. "This gives me a great opportunity to be involved in the
community."
Brantley County volunteers also
participated Saturday in the training exercise, the first one ever to be open to
other counties.
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