Part 4: Fire Entry & Search and Rescue

During Fire Ops 101, participants learned the basic techniques of entering a structure already involved in fire, searching for any incapacitated victims, and extinguishing an interior fire.

Fires would be lit or smoke generators would be activated in the various training rooms at the Hagevig Fire Training Center in Juneau.

Students would learn how to use a halligan tool to force open a locked door.

They would also enter a darkened room on their knees to quickly search for a possible victim, or – while hauling hose – search for a fire source before putting it out.

Another scenario featured the use of a thermal imaging camera to locate a potential fire victim in a dark or smoke-filled room.

Training dummy
Students at the Hagevig Fire Training Center in Juneau learn how to find and retrieve this 185 pound training dummy. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
Fire Entry & Search and Rescue radio feature

Participants get ready to enter a smoky room to put out a controlled fire at Hagevig Fire Training Center. Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO
An entry team and their support/back up prepare to enter and put out a controlled fire as instructors inside one of the rooms reset the scenario at Hagevig Fire Training Center. (Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO)

Radio feature excerpt:

Some Juneau engines are now equipped with TICs. At several thousand dollars a piece, critics have labeled them as extravagant or expensive toys. But firefighters call them lifesavers, both for fire victims and themselves. I’m about to find out for myself.

We enter the dark room on our knees. I’m first in and move slowly along the righthand side feeling out walls, furniture, and appliances. I turn on a small flashlight mounted on my chest. But the flashlight is useless because the smoke is so thick.  It’s like turning on high-beams while driving through a blizzard.

At the urging of a firefighter trainer who’s trailing me, I hold up the TIC and clearly see another person in a corner of the room. He appears as very bright white shape on a black background, apparently sitting in a recliner and doing a silly moose ear-hand gesture at me. I go directly to him…  


KTOO's Matt Miller adjusts his hood and helmet during a recent Fire Ops 101 training exercise in Juneau. (Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO)
KTOO’s Matt Miller adjusts his hood and helmet during a recent Fire Ops 101 training exercise in Juneau. (Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO)
Thermal Imaging Camera or TIC can be used to detect a heat source hidden inside walls or find a victim in a dark, smoky room. Cooler objects, like the exterior door shown in the center of this viewfinder's image, appear as dark or black. Warmer objects, such as the recently turned off ceiling light fixture, show up as bright white. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
Thermal Imaging Camera or TIC can be used to detect a heat source hidden inside walls or find a victim in a dark, smoky room. Cooler objects, like the exterior door shown in the center of this viewfinder’s image, appear as dark or black. Warmer objects, such as the recently turned off ceiling light fixture, show up as bright white. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
A training participant checks the water flow at Hagevig Fire Training Center before putting out a controlled fire. Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO
A training participant checks the water flow at Hagevig Fire Training Center before putting out a controlled fire. (Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO)
Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications