Rural Firefighters Train to Keep You Safe

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

AMBER, Oklahoma -- Firefighters have been busy during this dry season catching grassfires before they spread. But Sunday, several rural departments used their down time to perfect the skills they use to keep you safe.

"The firefighters we got on scene are experiencing the most life like situation without the fire," Amber Assistant Fire Chief Mike Norman said.

Departments from Amber as well as Bridge Creek and a few others trained in a life-like search and rescue exercise.

The firefighters, many of them in their first year, learned how to enter a structure engulfed in smoke where they can see nothing and still be able to pull people out who are trapped inside.

"Myself, I've never been in an actual live structure on fire and this will help prepare for that. I think it benefits the firefighters as well as those that will be in them," Amber firefighter Sean Ortiz said.

All of the firefighters training today are volunteers.