New firefighter training facility opens in Olympia

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New firefighter training facility opens in Olympia

Saturday, November 17, 2012

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A new firefighter training facility has opened in Olympia to give firefighters from throughout the region real experience with challenging situations.

The Olympian (http://is.gd/5nmUhP ) reports the facility is named the Mark Noble Regional Fire Training Center after a department's firefighter who died from a work-related brain cancer in January 2005.

It features three buildings: a six-story commercial tower, a two-story apartment building, and a new incident command training center.

The Olympia training center is the only facility in the state that can allow firefighters to practice maneuvering through tangled wires, break through a wall, and cling to the side of a high window where they wait to be rescued.

Washington state rules concerning firefighter training soon will require even more live fire training. Before Olympia opened its own facility, local fire crews had to travel to the fire academy in North Bend.

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Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com

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TerryFinn 6 months ago

I was a volunteer firefighter in So Cal in the mid 1970s. We trained by climbing ladders and dragging hoses over the top of the local Safeway. We also went to a wrecking yard to "rescue" people from auto accidents by sawing the cars, jaws of life, breaking windows. House fire training was limited to houses the owners wanted taken down. Local Chief would set it on fire and we would suit up and go in as the circumstances allowed. The worst one was the "cat ladys" house where animal protection had rescued some 75 or so cats. While they shoveled it out pretty well, the smell of the remainder amplified by the intense heat was not soon forgotten.
Glad to see a professional type setting now being used.