VIDEO: The College Station Fire Department is conducting specialized training sessions for high-rise fire safety. There are 18 high-rise apartments along the Northgate district with seven more under construction, creating new obstacles for first responders. This training comes after the Northgate district’s increase in high-rise apartments, which caused the fire department to review its policy. Stuart Marrs said the goal of this training is to prepare firefighters for different dynamics
“When we started seeing high rises being built in our community particularly in the Northgate area, we realized we needed to revisit our policy on approaching a high-rise fire and then practice those policies,” Marrs commented.
Training at the TEEX Fire Training Field, College Station firefighters reviewed high-rise-specific tactics like locating which floor the fire is on and identifying evacuation corridors and flow paths for the fire.
Jack Mactough said high-rise situations differ from residential ones due to dynamics such as breaking down a locked door, looking for fire dynamics in stairwells, and being able to safely evacuate people and the fire.
