Firefighters Practice Essential Skills at County Training Center

On Tuesday night September 30, members of the Rye Fire Department headed to the Westchester County Fire Training Center in Valhalla. The objective of the evening was to practice evolutions in roof ventilation and forcible entry. The firefighters split into two squads and while one team worked with Fire Instructors to hone their skills using the ventilation saw, the other faced the Friction Force forcible entry simulator. By the end of the night, each member had used the Quikvent chain saw to practice the "7-9-8" method of ventilating a 4'x8' section of a flat roof and had also learned how to properly cut a large triangular hole in a pitched roof while working from a roof ladder. The other evolution was more physically challenging and involved using a set of irons (a halligan tool and a flat-head axe) to force open the simulated steel fortress of the Friction Force prop, where the instructors were able to adjust the difficulty from easy to nearly impossible. Nevertheless, each firefighter successfully and skillfully gained entry. As always, many thanks are due to the Fire Instructors who provided instruction and guidance to Rye's firefighters.