VIDEO: Cedar City residents are coming together to help in the recovery of Fire Chief Mike Phillips after he suffered serious burn injuries during a multi-agency training exercise. And a neighboring fire chief says there are always inherent dangers that firefighters face, even in training. In Dammeron Valley, fire crews regularly run through rescue scenarios, practicing how to pull people to safety during structure fires and extrications. The trainings themselves can be physically demanding and sometimes dangerous, but crews say they’re crucial to making sure they’re ready to respond. Fire departments follow national safety guidelines, including what is called a “1403 Checklist”, to conduct live fire trainings safely.
But even with those measures, injuries do happen. “In our fire academy, we see multiple injuries every year,” Dammeron Valley Fire Chief Ryan D’Ambrosio said. “It happens just like it does on a real incident.” Chief D’Ambrosio adds that these trainings are required. As crews complete these trainings, safety officers and backup teams stand ready to make sure that if something goes wrong, help is immediately available. “When we do live fire, we have interior and exterior safety officers,” Chief D’Ambrosio says. “We always have backup lines of what’s called a rapid intervention team because something will always go wrong.”
