Coweta Firefighters Hone Their Skills With Forcible Entry Training

Coweta Firefighters Hone Their Skills With Forcible Entry Training

Coweta Firefighters are even more prepared for the dangers and challenges of their job, thanks to a local nonprofit. The firefighters get regular training throughout the year but on Wednesday some volunteers stepped in to help them hone some new skills.

The sound of steel hitting steel and cracking wood could be heard from the Coweta Fire Department on Wednesday. Firefighters are learning how to use their tools to break through locked buildings, causing the least amount of damage.

"A lot of times, all we have is the minimal tools," said Mid-America FOOLS OKC Metro volunteer Lt Matt Young, "We need to be able to make entry into the structure and not destroy the door that way we can keep the door in place to control fire flow."

The OKC Metro chapter of a nonprofit called F.O.O.L.S made the training possible. The group provides the opportunity to area fire departments for free.

"That is absolutely what we are here to be able to provide quality training and real world training to departments," said Young.

"The saying is, "You don't train until you get it right, you train until you can't get it wrong. This is a huge, huge step for us to get to that point where we are training to where we can't get it wrong,” said Coweta Firefighter Matt Stice.

Firefighters say the skills they are learning will help them feel even more confident the next time they are in an emergency situation.

"Just working with our tools more and being able to figure out ways to make entrance a lot easier, you know work smarter not harder and today they showed us a lot of tricks that will make our lives a little bit easier and we will be able to make entry a lot quicker,” said Stice.

"We want people to understand how much time goes into your local fire department's training. These guys are constantly working to provide better service to their communities," said Young.

 

For more information about Mid-America FOOLS OKC Metro: Click Here