Palm Springs Fire Department wraps up real-life training simulations

The Palm Springs Fire Department held three full days of fire training this week at a house donated by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The home, located on North Calle Santa Rosa near Alejo Road, has been gutted with the exception of fill-in drywall and metal sheets to allow it to withstand several fires.

"This is as real life as it gets. It's real, actual fire that will hurt you and burn you," said Captain Nathan Gunkel of the Palm Springs Fire Department.

Several crew members participated during Friday's last day of training. Some firefighters cut holes into the roof, while others searched for rescue mannequins that mirrored real-life rescues.

"In this scenario, in this home, we’re training kitchen fires, garage fires, bedroom fires, bathroom fires, we’re making as many different scenarios as we can with one home," said Capt. Gunkel.

Everything presented was fair game for potential scenarios that could happen during a real call.

The chance at training at a house is something Capt. Gunkel believes is invaluable to the department.

"It’s priceless, it makes us a better department than we already are, it makes us more prepared when we do have a real rescue."

Just seconds after controlled fires were set inside the home, layers of smoke started to accumulate at the ceiling, and eventually created lower visibility for firefighters inside.

"The smoke essentially is unburned fuel. All that smoke is is pretty much parts of the fire that have not gone through the combustion process yet, but if we don’t get in there quick enough, we don’t do the vertical ventilation, that smoke cycles back into the fire, continues to preheat and at some point that smoke will actually become fire," said Capt. Nathan Clardy with Palm Springs Fire Department.

At times, temperatures reached more than 900° F in the upper area of the house closer to where the fire burned.

"You could see where the temperatures are 200 degrees on the bottom, on the floor, compared to 1,100 [or] 1,300 degrees," Capt. Gunkel said.

Firefighters are equipped with a thermal imaging camera, which not only captures the temperature, but can also help locate potential victims.

"The room’s hot and the human is going to be darker than the room temperature, so we’re able to go through and we’re looking through those. Everyone of us is carrying one on us. As we’re crawling through it’s just another tool to help us find any victims, we’re scanning every room, we’re scanning closets for little kids," said Capt. Gunkel.

Reading a fire's behavior is also key in containing a blaze.

"A fire wants oxygen and that’s the whole basis of it. It’s going to go where the air is, so if we leave the front door open, all that hot air and all that fire is going to start pulling toward the door," said Capt. Gunkel.

Crews must shut the door behind them while others work to create a hole inside the roof, allowing the smoke to escape. That also helps make it more visible to navigate through a burning building.

Fire officials advise families to have a plan of escape. They also advise to check that batteries in smoke detectors are fully functioning.