Boston 25 gets to see first-hand how firefighters do their job

A fire in the back bedroom of a trailer on Tuesday morning was a whirling inferno with thick and blinding smoke .

“We pulled up on scene with a room and contents fire we made entry into there. You took the nozzle went to the seat of the fire and put it out essentially,” said James Brown, a Plymouth firefighter who is also a District Vice President for the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.

The fire was quickly put out and fortunately this was only a training run in what’s called the Mobile Burn Building used by firefighters for training. Boston 25 Reporter John Monahan was paired with Brown on Tuesday on the Boston Common for the event sponsored by the PFFM.

“We take so much pride in our profession and we get to share it with you today,” said Sam Dillon, a Boston Firefighter and President of Local 718.

The training ops day on the Common was a chance for media and politicians from across the state to experience first-hand what it’s like to be a firefighter.

“That’s the goal-letting the people who fund us see what we actually do,” said Brown.

But seeing and actually doing this is a game changer – it consisted of everything from simulating putting out fires in a burning buildings to saving victims of a heart attack.

Firefighters have to be ready for any scenario and sometimes that can be several times a day. At almost every call they have to be geared up with at least 60 pounds of gear – just to start.

“Sometimes we have high rise fires and we have to bring in a hose pack with nozzle plus entry tools to get in in so well over a hundred pounds sometimes,” said Brown.

Car accidents are a frequent call. Firefighters never know what they’ll encounter once the alarm sounds and they race from the firehouse.

A frequent tool they use are the jaws of life which allow them to cut through metal and free victims who are trapped.

Anywhere we couldn’t take the doors off we’d cut and roll the roof back,” said David Kirrane, a Boston firefighter.

Once support posts are cut they can flip back the roof and reach people who might be trapped.

“So now the access we have to everybody in there,” said Kirrane.

At the end of the day, media and pols got to see firsthand how hard firefighters train and work. And all of it together as part of a big family.

“We’re brothers and sisters. We fight like a family when we fight but when it comes down to it we all would go in to pull another or sister out of a fire that was in trouble because we all know at point in time in our career it could be us,” said Brown.

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