Fire Rescue News- Firefighters brave collapsed building simulator
WILDWOOD-- A new simulator that replicates confined spaces is helping firefighters across the country better prepare for confined space rescues.
"The fire service doesn't really have good building collapse type operation to train in," developer of the Guardian Tom Quinn said.
In the years after the attacks, Tom made it his goal to create just that.
"This represents a three story building [with the] third floor collapsed into the....Continue Reading
second, and the second pancaked into the first," Quinn explained.
So what is it like inside? I suited up to find out.
"It's tight. There is stuff everywhere. There's wires exposed. The floors are missing, ceilings missing. It's the real deal," firefighter Mike Blair said.
That is exactly what Tom Quinn had wanted.
"Anyone that has gone through this has said it's as real as gets," Quinn said.
This simulator has helped more than 12,000 firefighters across the country prepare for climbing through confined spaces and building collapses just like they did on September 11th.
"There is no visibility. You are using your hands. You are feeling where you are at. You gotta realize where the floor is not there," Blair explained.
Debris is everywhere inside, imagine climbing through your attic or basement and moving everything around on your knees.
"In this unit there is roughly one and half to two tons of debris," Quinn explained.
Combine that with collapsed ceilings, smoke, leaking gas, broken pipes and 20 pounds of gear on your back and you get the point.
"You send a guy into an environment where there is smoke, there is gas, people trapped. You don't want them to freak out," Blair said.
And that is just what this simulator is helping to prevent.
These simulators start at $100,000 and can go up to $250,000.
