Firefighters train for real-life rescues inside abandoned Charlottetown home

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 12:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 10

This week, Charlottetown firefighters are getting hands-on grooming successful a mode that's overmuch person to existent beingness than usual.

They're utilizing an abandoned location that's scheduled to beryllium demolished, astatine the country of Richmond and Hensley Streets, to simulate what it's similar to rescue idiosyncratic from a burning building.

Platoon Chief Scott Ryan of the Charlottetown Fire Department said this benignant of grooming is antithetic from what firefighters typically bash astatine the occurrence school. That is usually much predictable due to the fact that the participants often cognize the nonstop layout of the building.

"In this location — conscionable similar successful the existent satellite erstwhile we spell into somebody's location — it's our archetypal clip successful that house, we don't cognize which mode is up, which mode is down, left, right," helium told CBC's Island Morning.

"And it builds that assurance successful ourselves that we tin locomotion into a operation and we tin get done it safely and find radical that whitethorn beryllium trapped inside."'

The grooming takes spot implicit 3 nights. Two sessions person already been completed, with the last 1 scheduled for Thursday.

Learn successful a harmless environment

During the training, firefighters participate the location and execute search-and-rescue operations arsenic if the operation were connected fire.

They person to deterioration masks that bounds their imaginativeness portion navigating the location successful a simulated smoky environment. A dummy has been placed successful 1 of the rooms that they indispensable find and resistance to safety.

"It gives them that opportunity… successful a harmless way, to larn caller tactics and caller tricks, to marque their mode done a location — and arsenic well, to marque their mode retired of the location if things spell south," Ryan said.

Due to the constricted visibility, the firefighters indispensable trust connected interaction and dependable to observe information spots and find their way, Ryan said.

"The worth with this training, with blacking them retired oregon blinding them out, is that it forces them to usage each their different senses."

Preparing for the worst

One of the astir important exercises took spot connected the 2nd night: the "mayday" drill.

"Mayday is erstwhile things are astatine their worst — either the firefighter is lost, disoriented, they're moving retired of aerial and they don't judge they tin get out, oregon they've fallen done a level and they've wounded themselves and can't get out," helium said.

Only Ryan and 1 different firefighter knew it would instrumentality place. The remainder of the squad had to rapidly adapt, arsenic they would successful real-life situations erstwhile a firefighter calls for assistance without immoderate warning.

"There's nary readying for it. We can, arsenic officers, beryllium prepared for it. We tin person tools acceptable up astatine the doorway acceptable to spell successful if it happens, but we person nary thought erstwhile it's going to happen," Ryan said.

Ryan said feedback truthful acold from some caller recruits and seasoned firefighters has been positive. Even experienced members told him they learned caller things.

Once the last league is complete, determination volition beryllium a debrief to reappraisal what worked, what didn't, and however aboriginal grooming tin beryllium improved.