Smoke, trucks and firefighters from all over San Luis Obispo County are descending upon a donated house over the next two weeks for live fire training in San Luis Obispo.
“What live fire means is that we're able to set up scenarios in a controlled environment. We can set actual class-A combustible fires," San Luis Obispo City Fire Chief Todd Tuggle explained.
Back in March, the first live fire training of the year was in Arroyo Grande. Now, training is taking place in a structure in a residential area near downtown San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly, making it the 8th structure donated to CAL FIRE SLO since 2017.
“One year we may have several, another year may have none," CAL FIRE SLO Public Information Officer Ryan Grebe said. "So we really appreciate the opportunity where we can find new structures and training.”
Training that includes communication, scene management, intervention, survival and firefighting tactics that will take place over the next two weeks.
“The opportunity to come out here and train is really special. It's unique, and it's something that's badly needed for our operations," Chief Tuggle stated.
With San Luis Obispo City Fire and CAL FIRE leading the charge, multiple agencies and units will participate in the training.
On Tuesday, San Luis Obispo City Manager Whitney McDonald was along for the demonstration, getting a chance to enter the structure as it was on fire.
“I thought through the process of what it might be like if this was your own house on fire, how would you get out? What were those conditions like?” she said of the experience. She also expressed gratitude for the experience and the insight into what our local firefighters go through when entering a fire.
During the training, firefighters are practicing skills that Tuggle says are necessary to train on given the dense housing, downtown corridor and commercial buildings in San Luis Obispo.
“It's imperative that as firefighters be trained on these types of buildings, we train in these types of scenarios constantly because it's a perishable skill,” he said.
Grebe also explained that due to the multi-agency effort to pull off the training, engines will be covering each other across the county over the next two weeks to make sure there are no gaps in service. The training goes from Aug. 5-8 and 12-15.
