Fort Simpson (Feb 21/03) - After gathering at the fire hall for their weekly Wednesday meeting on Feb. 12, a call comes over the firefighters' radios.

It was a report of a blaze at an abandoned trailer at the far end of Fort Simpson island, near Rowe's bottle depot.

The seven volunteers scrambled into the ambulance and pumper truck and rushed to the scene. By the time they arrived, the trailer was engulfed in flames and smoke was belching from an adjacent house. For practice, fire chief Pat Rowe had started the fire and set off smoke bombs, with help from firefighter John Christensen.

The lesson on this night was that not all burning buildings can be saved, Rowe said.

"It's not just putting the wet stuff on the red stuff (fire)," he told the volunteer brigade during an impromptu huddle.

The firefighters saved the only "victim" in the scenario. One volunteer pulled a bundled hose, serving as an unconscious person, out of the smoking house. That house could be protected from the nearby fire by hosing it down with water, Rowe noted.

Ernie Loutit, who was promoted to captain earlier this year, was the on-scene commander that night.

"We made a few little boo-boos, which is good. We learn from that," Loutit said afterwards. "There's always, always something new that we learn every time."

Rowe said the practices are needed to keep the firefighters sharp.

"Unfortunately with fire it's always just a matter of time until we'll have another one," Rowe said, adding that the crew performed well overall that night. "The guys did super."