The St. Charles Fire Department recently participated in a live-fire mutual aid training hosted by West Chicago. Neighboring towns were invited to train together at the facility in West Chicago.
The training incorporated as many skills as possible that fire personnel may encounter during a fire emergency, including:
- Forcible entry through a regular door and a garage door
- Deploying hose lines and stretching them to the first and second floors
- Search for actual fires
- Search and rescue of hidden mannequins
- Radio communication
- Ladders
In each scenario, the first-in company officer had to identify priorities: what hose line to deploy, where and how to enter the structure, etc. The training was for all members working as a team and included the surrounding towns of West Chicago, Geneva, Batavia, and Winfield. It was helpful for the St. Charles Fire Department to train with neighboring towns.
