Spruce Grove Fire Fighters Association Local 3021 of the International Association of Fire Fighters hosted their first ever Fire Ops 101 for City of Spruce Grove Council and Senior Leadership team. Members of Local 3021 volunteered to spend the day with members of Council and Senior Management in a variety of simulated emergency situations. Participants received first hand knowledge and experience of the need for appropriate staffing levels to mitigate fire emergencies along with motor vehicle collisions and medical emergencies. The intent of the event was to provide first hand and real time experience of the dangers and hazards that fire fighters experience. Participants where provided the required safety gear and then they where escorted by trained fire fighters into the training building with a live fire scenario in progress. They where then expected to deploy a hose line and attack and extinguish the fire. The next scenario involved a vehicle where they used the “Jaws of Life” and cutters to remove a patient. The final scenario included a working emergency call where a pt suffered a cardiac arrest and they where expected to follow the direction of the Paramedic during the call. All three scenarios provided hands on demonstration of the workings of Spruce Grove Fire Service in their day-to-day operations. To stress the needs of appropriate staffing levels the final demonstration included a live fire burn cell. This burn cell was built using your typical household living room supplies (couch, table, chair, TV and wall decorations) and was lit on fire. This demonstration showed the importance of early detection (smoke detectors) and the need for quick response times along with sufficient personal to rescue occupants if trapped and to extinguish the fire.
At the end of the day participants left the event with a renewed knowledge of what Spruce Grove Fire Services experiences at any given time.
