Manchester Firefighters Train To Survive A Building Collapse

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday is something you hope you never hear at the scene of a fire.

Firefighters work daily to train to prevent situations that may cause them to be trapped, and in a life-threatening situation.

Unpredictable, and dangerous situations sometimes arise, and the International Association Of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has developed training on what to do when disasters occur.

They analyze actual incidents where serious injuries or death have occurred and develop training and protocols to prevent future death.

IAFF has developed Fire Ground Survival courses that are available to fire departments across the country.

Manchester Fire is doing a series of training using equipment from IAFF, this week it was a scenario involving wall breaching.

Manchester Firefighters crawl through small spaces in full gear and practice life-saving steps if they were involved in a building collapse.

A previous incident killed a 39-year-old Captain when he became trapped after the vacant one-story structure collapsed.

Firefighters are now trained to breach a wall and push their way out of the area where the danger occurred.

Watch as they train using IAFF Fire Ground Survival skills

Using specially designed units for training a firefighter breaks through sheetrock, and their breathing mask is totally blacked out. In full gear, the firefighter has to make their way through an opening that is only 16 inches wide.

The small opening is challenging with sixty pounds of gear and a breathing air tank strapped to them.

Watch as Manchester Firefighters learn and practice the skills they have learned.

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