By Cathy Spaulding
Muskogee Phoenix
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Louisiana firefighters Charlie Gruber and Jacob Stolzle scrambled to share an air tank mouthpiece Wednesday.
“Buddy breather exercises, in case one of us runs out of air and the other guy has air,” Stolzle said. “Breathing smoke doesn’t feel too well.”
Firefighters from across the United States learned survival techniques at Oklahoma Smoke Diver Association training this week at Muskogee City County Multi-Agency Training Facility. Oklahoma Smoke Diver offers experienced firefighters six-day, 60-hour training on self-survival, firefighter rescue, teamwork and situational awareness.
“This whole class is based around the idea of survival,” trainer Joey Ginsborg said. “It’s a lot of techniques used to help yourself in an emergency.”
Association Chief Elder Bryan Lloyd, a Tulsa fire captain, said the program operates on worst cases.
“We take situations where firefighters have been killed and try to figure out ways to prevent that,” Lloyd said.
Gruber and Stolzle, both from Louisiana, squatted near the ground as if to avoid smoke. Ginsborg said they learned what to do when a firefighter is trapped in smoke without air.
“It’s easier to see when you’re down below,” Ginsborg said. “All the heat rises up to the top of the building. The smoke will kind of go in layers.”
Oklahoma City firefighter Austin Blake said the training has pushed his limits mentally and physically.
Blake said the first 45 minutes each day are the hardest.
He said he wakes up “completely beat down.”
Association Chief Operating Officer Chad Miller said not everyone completes the class.
The class started Sunday with 42 students, 19 were left Wednesday, Miller said. Students can either drop out on request, for medical reasons or are dropped when they do not meet objectives, he said.
This week’s training drew firefighters from as far away as California and Illinois. Oklahoma firefighters came from Claremore, Edmond, Oklahoma City and other cities.
This is the fourth year training was held in Muskogee .
Miller said the Muskogee facility is awesome and bigger than Tulsa’s training facility.
“There are options to do all kinds of different training here,” Miller said.
Safety is the key to the training.
“On any floor we have instructors everywhere watching them with thermal imaging cameras,” Miller said. “We have a clock to know exactly how long they are in the building.”
© 2025 the Muskogee Phoenix (Muskogee, Okla.).
Visit muskogeephoenix.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.