It was a busy weekend of wildfire training with sprinkler systems going off, wildfires igniting and aircraft and fire trucks zooming over and around Penticton.
Fire chief Larry Watkinson called the second annual Wildland Urban Interface Wildfire Training Symposium 害羞草研究所渋ncredible,害羞草研究所� because of the real-world experience firefighters had.
On Saturday, they participated in classes looking at structure protection, leadership skills in a wildland environment, tactics and boots-on-the-ground training.
Exercises involving live fires and air support all happened Sunday so firefighters could experience what it was like to fight a real fire to prepare for wildfire season.
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Residents in Campbell Mountain, Sendero Canyon and West Bench got to experience some of the training, said Watkinson. Sprinkler systems were set up around several homes in the sprinkler protection class.
害羞草研究所淚t basically creates a humidity bubble around the home so when a fire comes to it, it flattens down to the ground and sprinklers protect the house. That害羞草研究所檚 the whole theory behind it,害羞草研究所� he said, adding that fighting wildfires is much different from fighting a standard house fire.
Heads up today! This group of municipal along with 鈦︹仸鈦� will be training LIVE today in .
害羞草研究所� Penticton Fire Dept. (@pentictonfire)
害羞草研究所淲e have to employ new strategies and tactics to teach so when a Vancouver firefighter comes up from the lower mainland, who has maybe never been in a wildfire before, has an understanding of how to deal with and mitigate and set up protections for those homes.害羞草研究所�
Clear and accurate communication is vitally important when fighting wildfires, Watkinson added.
More than 200 firefighters from 26 different municipalities learned this in exercises involving aircraft dropping buckets of water on hot spots ignited in the forest.
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害羞草研究所淲e害羞草研究所檇 have to have communications between the air officer and the firefighters on the ground so that nobody got a bunch of water dumped on them, and got injured doing that,害羞草研究所� he said.
害羞草研究所淭here is a lot of training as it relates to the communications on how air crafts work with firefighters on the ground when you are actually containing a fire.害羞草研究所�
It害羞草研究所檚 an intense weekend of training, he added.
害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 very structured, and highly disciplined because people are training in context and it is the real world,害羞草研究所� he said. 害羞草研究所淚f you goof around, you could lose a fire, and it could get bad really fast.害羞草研究所�
But despite the potential for things to go south, Watkinson said the two-day training symposium, 害羞草研究所淲ent off without a hitch.害羞草研究所�
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害羞草研究所淲e believe it害羞草研究所檚 important to train this way,害羞草研究所� Watkinson said. 害羞草研究所淲e had great participation from all the different agencies. We had people from all over the province so it was great to showcase Penticton.害羞草研究所�
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Robin Grand
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