Copyright 2006 P.G. Publishing Co.
By MADELINE IZZO
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
Curls of smoke leak through cracks in the three-story structure -- between the floors, around windows and doors, and through gaps between the cinder blocks.
One team of firefighters enters to inspect the fire and vent the building. Another team carries in a hose draped over the firefighters’ shoulders. The lead man plants the nozzle and directs the stream. Smoke billows from a window, followed by a spray of water.
It’s not real life, although it’s real enough. These firefighters are battling a carefully set fire at Butler County Community College’s fire training school.
And, surprisingly, these trainees are firefighters from Pittsburgh’s fire department.
For the first time, a paid professional fire department is using the training school, and college officials couldn’t be more thrilled.
“It’s a vote of confidence. This will help us attract new recruits and new candidates [for training],” said Ben Cypher, chief coordinator of the public safety training facility on the BCCC campus in Butler Township.
Individual firefighters from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have taken classes at the fire training school since it opened three years ago. But Pittsburgh’s decision to train, test and certify its 115th recruit class is a first for the community college.
For two days last month, seasoned firefighters led 57 recruits through a series of fire scenarios, including first-floor, second-floor and basement fires, which are the hottest.
“What we’re doing is introducing them to actual firefighting under normal conditions,” said Thomas Sweesey, assistant coordinator.
Normal means lots of heat and smoke and zero visibility.
This is the largest class Pittsburgh has recruited in nearly 10 years. The city plans to train this class and three additional classes of 40 apiece to become active firefighters in 2006 and 2007. The Pittsburgh Fire Bureau has not certified any new firefighters since 2001.
“They’ve got a large retirement coming up,” Mr. Sweesey explained.
Almost through their 18-week course, the trainees already have passed a written civil service test, a physical exam, a lie detector test, a drug test and a criminal background check. The 57 at BCCC last month remained from an original class of 64.
“If they can’t deal with it, they’re fired,” said Deputy Chief Colleen Walz, a 19-year firefighting veteran.
She watched as the recruits dealt with the fire inside the cement block training structure called a “burn building.”
“We want them to learn how to deal with a straight stream and put the fire down,” she said.
After putting out the fire, the trainees have to haul out the hoses, uncouple the joints, remove all bends and kinks, and then fold them back into neat piles.
Subfreezing temperatures complicate the challenges.
“Sometimes you have to chop your hose lines [out of the ice], but that’s the reality of winter conditions,” Deputy Chief Walz said.
What is it like to enter a burning building to put out a fire?
“It’s hot,” said Sean Fitzwilliam, of the Arlington section of Pittsburgh. Although his fire suit protects most of his body, he can feel heat around his neck.
“It’s very tough to see. You can see the orange of the fire and light through the windows,” he said.
As they have been taught, the recruits stand within arms’ length of each other inside the smoke-filled building and communicate by radio.
The fire training school has set up other scenarios throughout the parking lot, such as an overturned vehicle and an isolated railroad car.
Between each rotation, the recruits relax. They remove their helmets and hoods. Their air masks leave red outlines on their faces. On this December day, ice crystals cluster near joints in their breathing gear, and icicles drip from their jackets.
Pittsburgh chose to train recruits at the Butler County Community College fire-training school because the facility is more modern than the Allegheny County Fire Training Academy in North Park, which was built about 35 years ago, said Wayne Kovac, fire program coordinator for the BCCC facility.
Pittsburgh fire Chief Michael Huss said the bureau’s instructors wanted to use the Butler County facility because it was larger and could accommodate the unusually large number of recruits.
He described both as “good facilities,” but there is more room inside and outside the burn building at the Butler County training school, he said.
The burn building monitors temperatures of all of the rooms, the walls and the air and triggers an alarm when fires become dangerously hot. The building is constructed in such a way that even if the walls degrade, they won’t collapse.
The BCCC fire-training school is one of eight educational training agencies at 16 community colleges throughout the state. The Butler program is reimbursed through the state.
Instructors have to be state-certified and are paid mostly by the state, with a smaller amount paid by the fire departments that use it. They also pay to rent the burn building.
According to Mr. Kovac, it doesn’t cost Pittsburgh any more to use the Butler County facility than the Allegheny County Fire Training Academy facility.