Firefighters conduct live drill

It is a firefighter's nightmare: A team enters a burning structure, but when they exit, a man is missing.

That was the scenario played out by Sisters and Cloverdale firefighters on Monday, March 4, during a burn-to-learn exercise in Crossroads.

The fire district's Rapid Intervention Team practiced rescue techniques that would be used if a firefighter was trapped in a burning building by a floor or roof collapse. Additionally, the Sisters and Cloverdale units studied the fire's behavior and practiced their techniques in a realistic environment.

According to Thornton Brown of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District, live fire training is invaluable.

"Some people saw things they'd never seen before," Brown said. "It went off without a hitch."

The department torched an old single-wide trailer on Bluegrass Lane at about 7 p.m. and the firefighters were back in station cleaning up by 9:30 p.m. The sheer speed and fury of the blaze was a lesson in itself.

This was the third burn-to-learn exercise already this year.

According to Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Don Rowe, the department has conducted some 30 such exercises in the past five years.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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