While it was no Chilean mine rescue, Cherry Hill firefighters recently underwent some highly technical training. The Cherry Hill Fire Department considers itself to be an “all-hazard agency”. This was no more evident than during the first weeks of October when firefighters simulated a building collapse with reported people trapped. The circumstances; workmen in a vacant commercial structure become trapped after utility equipment explodes causing a 2-ton piece of concrete to, not only trap them underneath, but the collapsed debris also prohibited rescuers from gaining easy access; were played out as a live scenario.
Instructors played the roles of the trapped victims and their co-workers. It was up to the incoming firefighting crews to: control the scene, gather information, deploy rescue personnel appropriately, and employ previous education and equipment training to gain access and free the trapped ‘workers’. Rescuers were confronted with several collapse like obstacles and challenges. The training building was completely transformed to mimic a building that had suffered a partial collapse. In the end, each set of rescuers successfully managed the debris and were able to free the victims and extricate them from the building using collapse rescue techniques. Several Cherry Hill firefighters are also members of the NJ Urban Search and Rescue team, and have brought some of that federal training to benefit Cherry Hill.
