Twelve Sun Peaks Fire and Rescue (SPFR) members took part in annual refresher training on Sept. 18 at the Kamloops Fire Training Centre.
Experienced members are required to refresh their training annually. They took part in attacking car fires, safe hose handling skills training, as well as locating and suppressing fires in rooms with heavy smoke conditions.
They also learned a new skill, quickly searching rooms for patients and extracting them from the building down a ladder.
“It was a very successful day,” said SPFR chief Dean Schiavon. “Everyone enjoyed themselves down there. We haven’t had the opportunity to go to Kamloops much recently and use the new facility.”
He added Captain Joss Advocaat did a great job organizing the day and ensuring it ran smoothly.
The new training facility provides SPFR an improved venue to practice their skills in lifelike scenarios such as smoke filled buildings with “charged hoses.”
“There’s only so many times you can drag a charged hose line through the [SPFR] fire hall,” Schiavon said with a chuckle. “Otherwise there’s really no buildings up here that we can use like this. We don’t want to be flooding water in a public or private building.”
Before the new Kamloops facility was operational, Schiavon said the team would often travel to Vernon to conduct their training, making for long days.
“We’d have to leave early in the morning and get back late in the evening. This gives us less travel time and more time to practice our skills,” Schiavon added.
In addition to annual training, the annual Sun Peaks Fire Rescue Gala will also be taking place on Nov. 20.
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