Firefighters Become Stair Masters for Day

When you invite guests over, you usually try to make them comfortable.

But when the Oxnard Fire Department hosts a get-together, well it’s a different story.

Since Oxnard is home of one of the tallest high-rises in Ventura County, its firefighters on Sunday invited 100 of their colleagues to lug 80 pounds of lifesaving equipment up 20 flights of stairs at the Oxnard Financial Center, only to head right back down even faster carrying make-believe victims over their shoulders.

Watching the six different teams work, heave and sweat, it was clear the regional fire drill was no party.

“It’s a long way up for anyone over 40,” puffed Oxnard Firefighter Dennis Phelps, 51, standing in a room of manufactured smoke.

But despite how tired the crews were, each participating agency--Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, military crews from the Naval Construction Battalion Center and Point Mugu Navy Base and the Ventura County Fire Department--said the practice is invaluable.

It was the third and final high-rise drill to be held in the county this year.

“We seldom get to pull . . . together,” Oxnard Fire Capt. Brad Windsor said of the 14 engine companies involved. “We work large incidents like wildfires or [hazardous materials] in groups, but we can always work on our communication.”

Aside from the physical challenge of climbing 20 flights of stairs, communication is the toughest part of working with such a large team, Windsor said.

Groups that only work together infrequently must find ways to instantly set up command posts and determine who will give the orders and who will follow them.

An alarm sounded at 10:15 a.m. and within minutes several teams already had positioned themselves along the stairwells and formed an “attack line” on the 20th floor. Whichever crew arrived first became the front line.

In this case, it was a team that included 48-year-old Oxnard Firefighter Gary Herrera, who was told to set up the hose lines and search for the simulated fire.

After his partner arrived, other crews on the 20th floor strapped on air tanks, grabbed flashlights and dropped to their hands and knees, looking for the seven dummies representing victims.

One group of three crawled on the floor holding hands so that they wouldn’t lose each other or miss a body that may be lying on the ground.

Windsor said the crews did well.

“We were getting to the fire floors in nine, 10 minutes,” he said. “That’s amazing.”

As a rookie Ventura city firefighter, with only three months experience, 23-year-old Hydee Dullam said she managed the drill just fine.

“I feel able to handle a real fire,” she said, barely out of breath.

Adding that she runs 30 minutes a day and lifts weights “all the time,” Dullam said: “This is a great job. It’s really fun.”