|
 
Hunter Ellis, host of The History Channel's Tactical
to Practical, demonstrates the Fire and Rescue Training
Institute's aircraft-fire training simulator. Rob Hill photo
|
Fighting
Fire
With Fire Training
By Chris Blose
When Capt. Mike Marlo arrived to fight a house fire in St. Louis
on June 28, things looked grim: Thick, choking smoke made for
zero visibility, and a child was trapped in a converted attic
bedroom. Armed with experience and lessons from MU Extension's
Fire and Rescue Training Institute
(FRTI), Marlo went to work.
While firefighters from another department
knocked back the fire, Marlo and John Chapman, both from West
Overland, Mo., performed a primary search. Finding the stairs
in a house with additions can be tricky, particularly when you
can't see. Ladder entry wouldn't work because superheated smoke
and gases were blowing out of the second-floor window.
They found the stairs, and Marlo and Chapman
split up. After an unsuccessful thermal-imaging scan, Marlo switched
to a right-handed search, feeling his way around the wall and
back to where he started. Still no child. He checked the bed.
No luck. Then, he searched the center of the floor and found the
unconscious boy. Marlo picked him up, found his way back along
the wall, and headed down and out.
From left, Capt. Mike
Marlo rescued Christopher Hendershott from a house fire
using techniques he learned from the MU Fire and Rescue
Training Institute. John Chapman assisted with the rescue.
Rob Hill photo
|
More than a week later, 11-year old Christopher
Hendershott had recovered from smoke inhalation and left the
hospital. The humble Marlo credits all the firefighters present
and what he had learned from FRTI with helping him save a life.
Marlo and Hendershott aren't the only ones
who've benefited from FRTI. During fiscal year 2004, the institute
enrolled 16,108 students from 45 states and 113 of Missouri's
114 counties. Instructors taught water rescues in theme park white
water, trained airport personnel with a mobile prop that can simulate
aircraft fires, and taught Missouri's career and volunteer firefighters
basic and advanced techniques. Such emergency training exemplifies
the many professional improvement and certification opportunities
the continuing education arm of extension offers.
FRTI
director Gary Wilson would like to raise funds for an actual
training center in the near future. Now, most classes happen
out in the counties and at whatever facilities are available. "We operate in the true extension fashion," Wilson
says.
Note: This story was published originally
in the winter 2005 issue of MIZZOU, the magazine of the MU Alumni
Association.
Archives
| Comments | Home SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscribe
| Change Your
Address | Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2007 — Curators of the University of Missouri
DMCA and other copyright information.
All rights reserved.
An equal opportunity/ADA institution.
Published by the Mizzou Alumni Association
Questions? Comments? E-mail comments@mizzoualumni.org
Last Update:
November 15, 2007
|
