During last week, the Downey Fire Department hosted live fire training inside old Fire Station two, prior to its demolition. The training was conducted along with the Compton and Santa Fe Springs units.
By: Andrea Méndez and Carlos Casillas
While the training only took three days, -ending last Thursday,- much of the time was dedicated to preparations prior to the training. The purpose was to put into practice the work they do daily and learn what they can improve on as a team. The fire department is made up of three different platoons as it is open 24 hours.
Certified fire control instructors from various fire agencies from throughout the state assisted Downey Fire’s Training Coordinator, Captain Pete Browne who is currently State “Fire Control 3” Senior Instructor.
Fire Control Three training consists of setting live fires inside of buildings to allow firefighters to observe and feel fire behavior characteristics such as fire growth & spread, thermal layering and rollover, and reinforces proper water application, fire extinguishment methods and the importance of a coordinated fire attack.
Prior to the training, the department went door to door in the neighborhood surrounding station two to prepare them for the training that would be occurring there as well as posted it to their DFD Facebook page. The city also put out a press release about the training.
Each day had the same structure and process but was done to accommodate each shift so they could all have time to train and improve. The training had about 40 firefighters and 10 support people per day, Captain Browne reported.
There were two sessions each day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon to ensure that they would still have time to respond to calls from the city without any obstacles stopping them. Prior to going out for training, the team used to have a 45-minute safety briefing to cover the events of the day.
Downey Latino had the pleasure of speaking with Captain Pete Browne of the DFD to walk us through what went on this past week.
“Each session lasted three hours,” reported Captain Pete Browne, “Beginning with dispatching about six engines and two truck companies from all three departments; Downey, Compton, and Santa Fe Springs”.
“The teams would respond to the fire, report the conditions once on the scene, and prepare to tackle the fire. The next group would arrive on the scene, receive their assignments, and proceed as normal”, Browne said.
Once the fire was down, the units would be pulled out, provided with wellness checks to ensure safety, and conduct an ‘after-action review’ where they covered the objective, purpose, and what corrections they would make. The same process would be done in the afternoon sessions.
This past training was conducted at the fire station number two in Downey. Throughout the city, there are four fire stations which are all undergoing remodeling. While station one and three have already been remodeled, station two and four have barely begun the process. Over a year ago, the same type of training was conducted at station three.
Capt. Browne mentions how lucky the fire department was to be able to train at Station Two, “It is a rare opportunity to be able to train in your own fire station”.
Browne reported that the training went as planned with no injuries among the team, and would like to thank the city council for giving them the permission to conduct this training and the community for giving them the opportunity to be able to do these types of training in their hometown through the power of their vote.
Along with this, he would like to thank his administration for trusting them with this valuable training experience.
Because Downey is located within a seismic zone, the DFD also has an Urban Search and Rescue team and a “Type 1” Heavy Rescue, as well as training for these teams.
