VIDEO: Ever wonder what itโs like to go inside a burning building? Captain C.J. Pearson gives us a firsthand look. He wore a GoPro for us during training. The video shows him on his hands and knees trying to locate victims. With the help of mineral smoke and no light this is a close as it gets to a real call. โWe had difficult search conditions in front of the building all the way to the back,โ says Captain Pearson with Reno Fire Department. โAnd it has a very complex layout.โ
Thatโs because this is not a modern building. It served as KOLOโs Radio station for years. And now is being prepped for demolition. โIt was difficult,โ says Captain Derek Hirsch with Truckee Meadows Fire. โThere was a lot of stuff in there. Itโs an old storage unit.โ Two times a day for the next two weeks, fire engines will show up in front of the radio building and must make decisions in real time. They must break entry through this training door called a forcible entry prop. And then search for victims and the fire source. They use a thermal imaging camera which detects heat. As we move in from the doorway, the camera shows us someone is there. But they are nearly invisible with the naked eye.
The cameraโs heat detection capabilities help detect dummies placed in the building. They have heat pads on them so that firefighters can hopefully find them and bring them outside in the light. โSo, we get to re-instill these important tenants of our job,โ says Chief Cory Whitlock. Heโs from the Reno Fire Department Training Division. โBy aggressive search and life safety. So that is really what we are driving home here.โ
And for those firefighters who have not gone through this training yet, our story wonโt give any clues as to what awaits you at the KOLO Radio Building. Itโs a 7000 square foot building. Whitlock and others are changing things up, so that no two sessions are alike.
