Firefighters Take Training Cue From the World of Video

Fire departments, long accustomed to the attentions of television news crews, are adopting the same video technology to their own uses.

Capt. Neal Shults has been in charge of the Long Beach Fire Department’s video unit since its formation several months ago.

“What I generally do when I get to a fire is shoot until I find the (battalion) chief or arson investigator and ask them what they want on tape,” Shults said.

Recently, Shults shot a $1-million fire that destroyed an apartment building under construction and damaged occupied buildings on both sides.

The tape was in the battalion chief’s hands that afternoon.

‘Doing Their Jobs’

“The main interest is in the firefighters doing their jobs,” Shults said. “And everybody likes to see themselves on TV.”

Firefighters managed to save both apartments. And firefighters who were not at the scene got to see how it was done.

With 22 fire stations spread over 45 square miles, the tapes also help bring a sense of community to the firefighters, he said.

About 450 firefighters serve the city of nearly 400,000 that contains a large harbor complex, an airport, industrial complexes and tightly packed residential areas.

There are problems at each fire, despite the best planning and training, Shults said.

“Things just don’t go right at fires,” he said. “There’s always something.

“There will be a plastic that won’t go out and you have to use a lot of air bottles. You have the logistic of keeping the bottles refilled, of rotating firemen so they don’t get tired.”

Or the fire burns through a three-inch hose and the commander has to react quickly, adjust the plan of attack to accommodate the new conditions.

Critiquing the Firefighters

The battalion chiefs use the film critiques to bring out those facts and how they can be handled along with what the firefighters did right--or wrong.

The department’s training center lecture hall holds only about 40 people, but by taping the lecture and transmitting it to each station over a cable television channel, every firefighter can get that training at a convenient time.

And the video unit has received ideas for training tapes from firefighters in the department. The unit has completed a restaurant inspection tape and is working on a tape about the department’s two new fireboats, Shults said.

Capt. Rod Dykhouse, who is stationed at the Long Beach Airport, suggested a training tape on rescues and fires at downed aircraft. The department could not find a commercially available training film on the subject, so it produced its own.

Dykhouse, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, is certified to fly numerous aircraft, including twin-engine jets. He has both worked at and flown out of the airport.

“He knows all the hazards,” Shults said.

The training tape just may save both the firefighter and the victims of any plane crash anywhere in the city, he said.