COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) and the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOC) are teaming up in hopes of coming up with new ways to keep firefighters better prepared for what they do.
The USOC has several buildings on site that are set to be demolished at the end of the month. Until then, the fire department is using them to perform live fire training, and at the same time medical staff from the USOC are monitoring the fire fighters in an effort to come up with better ways to help them recover after a fire fight.
For these firefighters the exercise is as real as it gets.
"There's real fire. It's hot, it's smoky," Lt. Robert Coffey, PIO with the Colorado Springs Fire Department said.
Firefighters said the buildings at the USOC are similar to apartment complexes.
"We've had a lot of those types of fires in the last two years. We just had the Berkshire Apartments burn for the third time," Coffey said.
Lt. Coffey said they try to take advantage of every learning opportunity they can get.
"We don't get a structure fire everyday, but this is a chance where we can get a structure fire every day for three weeks," Coffey said.
He said practicing these types of drills will help firefighters be better prepared when lives are on the line.
"You're better able to make calm, cool decisions that are going to save people lives, save property, and save yourself," Coffey said.
But they're not just putting out flames in an empty building, they're also conducting research with the USOC.
"When we take care of our athletes after a practice, we attempt to recover them so they can practice the next day, well a lot of that science could be applied to firefighters," Dr. Bill Moreau, Director of Sports Medicine Clinics with the USOC, said.
The team monitors everything from heart rate and blood pressure to hydration and blood glucose levels.
"We're just going into it studying all kinds of different parameters, and then we're going to look for those things that maybe we can provide one half of one percent to help these people be better," Moreau said.
Officials said what is learned here could be applied to firefighters across the nation.
"What we're hoping because Colorado Springs really is a center nationwide for firefighters that we can help develop some best practices to keep these people safe and keep them with their teammates fighting the fire," Moreau said.
Coffey said the firefighters will conduct about two burns each day at the USOC until the end of the month when the buildings are demolished.
The photos above are of one of the live training sessions. You can watch raw video of a live training session here.
All photos courtesy: Colorado Springs Fire Department
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