COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs Fire department just started its annual wildland fire training in the Skyway Neighborhood on the southwest side of the city.
“For our Mayor, and for our Fire Chief, this is one of our top priorities, keeping our community safe from wildfire,” said CSFD Deputy Fire Chief, Steve Wilch.
The training is to ensure firefighter skills meet national wildland firefighting standards and CSFD expectations.
Wilch said, “This is something we will do department wide. So all line firefighters will be out here in the month of April.”
The simulation for the exercise is multiple reports from neighbors seeing fire in an open space near homes with flames moving up hill.
Firefighters work as if a burn is happening.
“Out here using our tools, training, gaining the experience we need,” said Wilch.
The practice what is called initial attack.
It is important for firefighter safety and for cutting-off flames quickly.
Wilch explained, “Initial attack is putting our firefighters IN harm's way, direct attack on The fire to stop its progression that is so that we can save lives and structures.
Homeowners will benefit from understanding a second part of the training called structure triage.
Actions by property owners to mitigate fire danger around homes influence decisions on what structures firefighters can safely work to protect from approaching flames.
“We will evaluate the ability to defend those structures.”
Close to 500 firefighters will test their skills and get evaluations from wildfire specialists observing the training.
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