The first of these pics are from Thursday night where we trained with fire extinguishers, putting out gasoline and/or diesel on water. Even from where I stood taking the pics - probably 25 feet away - you could feel the heat on your face. A pair of firefighters standby on the hose in case of an emergency.

On occasion, hitting the mixture with the extinguisher stirred up the liquid and caused a pretty impressive flare up.

Firefighters, messy? (This is the engine bay for TO-29; they pull the engine out so we can use it to change gear).

Most of the class prepares for S&R training.

It doesn't take long before the prop is smoked and ready. We spent a lot of time crawling through it, rescuing downed firefighters and dummy-victims (that weigh like 175 pounds). The smoke was so thick you couldn't see much; communication was by touch and yelling through masks.

The smoke coming out of the prop was enough that someone called 911 and our engine got dispatched to a "fire in some storage containers." Heh. Didn't take long for the crew to realize the address was our own address.

This maneuver is called the "Denver Drill." A firefighter was trapped and killed some years ago because his teammates couldn't extricate him from a confined space, through an open window even after hours of work. So this drill was invented to move an unconscious man out an open window as quickly as possible.

Here Kristy climbs through the window into the confined space where I lie "unconscious."

Kristy grimaces as she lifts me toward her to make room for her partner to come in after her. Her partner lies down where I was and puts his feet on my butt. The two of them then lift/push me toward the window where another pair of firefighters are waiting (outside) to help.

From outside, the rest of the team helps lift and carry my unconscious body out the window. You can see a short video of this part of the process by clicking here.

Finally we had to extricate ourselves through a small hole built into the side of the prop. It's designed to reflect the two-by-four studs in a typical dwelling once you've chopped or kicked out the sheet rock. The hole is built on 16" inch centers, making it about 14" of space to escape through. The idea is that if you're trapped and have to extricate yourself by going through a wall, you can do it. You can view a short video of Dave extricating by clicking here.

And for the record, yes, I actually did get through even with my SCBA on.