Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Jun 23/00) - Shouts of "victim, victim, victim," and "firefighter down," pierced the smoke as firefighters emerged in full gear, pulling bodies from a smoky building Saturday.

A dozen volunteer firefighters from around the Deh Cho were putting their training to the test near the end of a five-day, basic-level course.

Their task was to retrieve either the training dummy or firefighters, who were acting unconscious, from the building that was full of smoke emanating from a barrel of smouldering dried grass, or from an occasional smoke bomb.

"You can't see your hand before your face," Wrigley's Ed ten Brinke said after exiting the building.

Like all his counterparts, his face was beaded in sweat under the mid-day sun.

"It sure can get confusing in a hurry. Things are happening in a thousand different directions."

The firefighters were paired up and expected to enter and exit the "smoke house" together, as they would during a real fire for safety purposes.

They practised doing a proper search with one hand against the wall to keep them from getting disoriented. The victims inside were moved around each time to keep the firefighters guessing.

"This adds a little bit of realism," Fort Simpson fire Chief Pat Rowe said of the exercise.

Rowe, who evaluated the exercise from inside with fellow firefighter Randy Hilworth, periodically complicated matters by creating new scenarios such as having two firefighters trapped in the building or simulating an equipment failure.

Assistant fire marshall Kellie Mitchell said the drill came after hours of classroom theory.

"This is kind of putting it all together," she said. "I think it's been a good week. They've been willing to do extra work. They're right into this, taking everything we can throw at them."

Earlier in the week, the firefighters had learned about ropes and knots, drags and carries, using a self-contained breathing apparatus and how fires generally begin and spread.

Volunteer firefighter Matthew Sabourin, of Fort Providence, said he now has a better sense of how to work as a team in an emergency situation as a result of the course.

Two Trout Lake firefighters, Chief Ralph Sanguez and rookie Dennis Deneron, came to Fort Simpson to break in their brand-new blue uniforms.

"The (Trout Lake band) council has given us a lot of support so we're trying to upgrade the equipment we have all the time," Sanguez said.

They have an eight-member detachment in Trout Lake along with one water truck and a dry chemical truck. Although Sanguez is a six-year veteran, he said the course was very useful to him.

"It's like First Aid, there's always stuff changing," he said, adding that he found out his department's brand of air tanks are no longer recommended.

In order to become certified, each firefighter had to score at least 70 per cent on a 50-question, multiple-choice test. They were also assessed on their practical training.