Training on tools of rescue

By Cathy Logg

Herald Writer

MARTHA LAKE — Rubble at a burned-out school proved a tough opponent over the weekend for Snohomish County Fire District 1 firefighters practicing urban search and rescue techniques.

The old saying "They don’t build them like they used to" proved to be true, rescue technician Brad Cheek said after a whole day of laboring with about 25 firefighters to breach reinforced concrete walls and get accustomed to using demolition tools. Another crew attacked the demolition remnants on Sunday.

The concrete that district personnel were up against on the site of the former Martha Lake Elementary School at 172nd Street SW and Larch Way is much thicker than that used in general construction now, he said.

"This debris pile was a formidable opponent," Cheek said. "This is just what was on the job site. This is a well, well-built structure. Modern structures are not built with 6-inch to 8-inch concrete reinforced walls."

Firefighters spent much of the weekend practicing skills they would need in the event of a disaster such as a building collapse. The training was not prompted by the attacks Sept. 11 that brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers and other buildings and damaged the Pentagon, but had been planned previously as part of ongoing training, Cheek said.

"We didn’t put this on in a knee-jerk reaction. This is just one small discipline of urban search and rescue," he said.

The district has had a search and rescue team for about 10 years, district spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said.

"We do all kinds of different disciplines," she said.

Those include ice and water rescue, high- and low-angle rescue, confined-space rescue, and building collapse rescue. Sometimes the team drills involve rappelling down a cliff and hauling a mannequin up in a Stokes litter, or rappelling off high towers. The team members have special rescue training, and practice or respond with rescue technicians from other south county fire departments, Hynes said.

"We are going to be tapping a few more people for our rescue team, and they will go through training," she said.

But the weekend training was for engine companies — the firefighters on the trucks that arrive first on the scene.

"They need some of those basic (rescue) skills," Hynes said.

During the weekend drills they practiced using demolition tools to break through concrete and steel and see which tools worked on different types of materials, she said. A couple of months ago, they conducted a drill on how to shore up a building in danger of collapse.

They used not only small demolition tools they carry on some of the engines, but also tools loaned to them by Aurora Rentals — tools that aren’t part of the firefighters’ usual equipment, because of their cost, size and the few occasions on which they would need them, Cheek said. They include a jackhammer, circular saw, reciprocating saw, generator and power supply.

The firefighters moved through various stations in which they planned and practiced how to get through concrete and steel, move the debris out of the way and get to victims who might still be alive. The exercise is as much mental as it is physical, Cheek said.

He makes them think, plan, evaluate, consider all the angles.

"I walk them through each workstation. How do we use these tools to overcome the obstacles that we have? Is the steel under tension? What am I cutting? What is it going to do? What’s my benefit? What have we accomplished, and what is our goal?" he said.

As the last group left the school on Saturday, they got to go to work for real. They were sent to a reported structure fire.

You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437

or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.

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