Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (July 27/05) - Around 11 p.m. on July 13, Arviat's Leon Pameok and his class mates in a firefighting training course got a chance to put theory into practice.

Pameok was up late doing his homework for a firefighting course when the call came: he was going to a real fire at the old Rankin Inlet Health Centre.

At the scene, he carried the firefighters' breathing apparatuses - pressurized tanks which are strapped to their backs and allow for breathing in smoke-filled spaces.

"It was scary and exciting at the same time," he said.

This is actually the third time a group of trainees got a chance to practise on a real fire during their course, according to Ron Bailey, a course instructor and Rankin Inlet Fire Deparment Sr. Officer.

The new recruits responded well, Bailey said.

"It was with their help that we were able to put out the fire at the health centre so quickly."

Pameok began the 10-day Essentials of Firefighting course on July 11 in Rankin Inlet, along with eight other participants from around Nunavut.

The group learned about everything from ventillation, to how to extinguish a fire, to search and rescue tactics.

After passing their theory tests, the students got a chance to extinguish car fires at the training facility near the Rankin dump.

Just before helping with one of the car fires last week, Pameok said the course had been a lot of work, but he had learned a lot. Along with the basics of fighting flames, Bailey said first aid skills, which can be especially valuable in the isolated environment of the North, were also covered.

"If you're out on the land and run into someone who is injured, you can assist them," he said.

But wherever you are in the world, Bailey said fighting a fire involves getting to the scene quickly to stop the flames from spreading.

He hopes participants will return home and train members of their departments in some of the skills. "The more people we get trained (as firefighters), the better off we will be as a territory in Nunavut."