On March 14th and 15th, members of Chestermere Fire Service participated in a joint aerial training exercise. Chestermere Fire Service hosted this training event but had Fire Service members from Crossfield, Rocky View County, Didsbury and surrounding areas come out and participate with them. Each bringing with them the aerial truck from their fire station and also their own experiences and expertise on aerial firefighting.
Many have asked the question “why does Chestermere have an aerial truck?” With Chestermere not having too many large structures, having to use the ‘T-Rex’ (as CFS members respectfully refer to the impressive truck), still happens more often than people think.
Heading up the training was Captain Brian Pomrenke of Chestermere Fire Service and he was able to shed some light on this. “We take the T-Rex to every call. If it’s alarms going off at Safeway, if it’s a fire alarm at a school, if it’s a residential fire, the T-Rex goes. Until we get to a call and put our eyes on the scene, we’d rather dispatch the aerial truck, assess the situation and send it back to the station, then to leave it at the station and get to the scene and then realize that we need it. That decision to take the aerial truck right from go, can save critical minutes when putting out a fire”. Captain Pomrenke went on to explain that people sometimes don’t realize the large aerial truck is at a fire call because it’s sometimes is kept at a distance. “We often will keep the aerial truck a block away – say for a residential fire – or in a close parking lot just in case. It can take no time for a fire to spread or quickly intensify, therefore, we do like to keep it close, just in case. The main goal is always safety”.
Captain Pomrenke also went on to say that he is very grateful to the City of Chestermere for having the foresight of Chestermere’s growth and therefore added the aerial truck to the fleet of CFS. This impressive vehicle came to Chestermere in 2008 and with it came someone all the way from Austria to train members of CFS on how to operate it. Everything from how to drive it, how to operate all aspects of the truck and also all the mechanics of it all to ensure that it could be properly repaired here. In fact, a member of Chestermere Public Works was also trained on the maintenance of this vehicle and is now a trained emergency response vehicle technician. With this being an articulated aerial truck, that means that instead of being a straight extension from the truck, this one has a knuckle or bend in the centre that allows it to go up and over obstacles and easier to get onto roof tops. The end of this massive arm, that can go up approximately 103 feet, there is a basket type platform that would be used to transport firefighters to very high floors of building, or even up to the roof. It then could be also be used for rescuing people trapped in a building and bring them safely back to the ground.
The training took place at the new East Lake School in Kinniburgh, but these trainings are done all over Chestermere on a rotation basis. Three aerial trucks were on hand, one from Didsbury, one from Crossfield and, of course, the mighty T-Rex from CFS. There were 14 firefighters participating in the training and the members of each department were set up into groups – rotating through the different trucks. Exercises were done to teach the driving of these trucks, the pumping, how and where to stage the scene and also full equipment use. This training is typically used to obtain aerial certification, which for most is only needed when you’re just starting out, but it is not uncommon to find more veteran fire fighters taking this training again just to keep themselves well educated and properly trained.
On a day where there was a slight wind, firefighters were put to the test as their task was to manoeuver the impressive machines to pick up 10 gallon buckets filled with water and move them, all by way of a small hook at the end of the telescopic ladder. Each 10 gallon bucket had a large strap and the goal was to manoeuver the hook to the bucket (which was placed on the roof of the school), hook it and then move it to another location – such as the top of the lamp posts in the parking lot, and place it down, without spilling the water in the bucket. The meticulous patience and skill was remarkable to watch and as the wind increased throughout the day, their focus and determination to get it right prevailed.
Following a full day of training on March 14th, the next day was all about a bit more training and then testing. The firefighters participating would be going through a practical and written test to then obtain their aerial certification. Captain Pomrenke commented, “We want them to be accurate, but safe wins every time. We have them train with the bright yellow buckets because it makes them slow down and focus on getting that hook on the bucket and carefully transporting it to the secondary location. Accurate. Slow. Safe”.
