On Wednesday night June 12th after our monthly meeting approximately 20 members took part in a forcible entry and SCBA skills training behind the firehouse.

Training Officer Keen showed the group different techniques for forcible entry and crews got a chance to use our door prop to practice the skills they used. The door prop lets us simulate not only residential doorways but also commercial doorways that open outwards. A big part of forcible entry is not just getting access to the building but also maintaining control of the door until the hoseline crews are ready and able to make entry.

While some of the members were working on the door prop others were learning SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) skills. As a RIT (Rapid Intervention Team) Company in Chester County our crews are constantly training on skills that they would need if ever activated on a fire scene to rescue a downed firefighter. Once of those skills is how to connect their SCBA to the downed firefighters SCBA in case of a failure or if they run out of air. This process is called buddy breathing and can be difficult to do in the best conditions. Tonight however our crews had to enter the shipping containers that were filled with "smoke" and search for a downed firefighter. After finished their search it was simulated that one of the members ran out of air requiring the other member to buddy breath with them until they could safely exit the building.

Approximately 20 members attended the training.