Story By John Mann
The Guntersville Fire Department held a demonstration Thursday to show off their new training apparatus, made possible by donations from Discount Building Supply, FS Group and Southern Pipe and Supply.
“This training prop is something special,” Guntersville Fire Department Engineer Mike Putzig said. “Three companies came together and without even a question wanted to donate to help us build something to help keep us more efficient. They donated everything so we could keep up to par with our skill set, but the biggest thing is not the materials and the labor it’s what we can do for the community.”
The prop is meant to simulate the upper levels of a home, complete with roof and entry door. The set allows the fire department to run training drills such as attic crawls, confined space crawls, door breaches and vertical ventilation among other things. The new prop replaces an older and more basic set that was around twenty years old, described by Putzig as “falling down and very simplistic, it was time for another one.”
Discount Building Supply, located in Guntersville, donated the wood and fasteners for the structure while Southern Pipe, located on the line between Albertville and Guntersville, donated 24 inch corrugated pipe that allows for the confined space drills. Last but not least FS Group Albertville donated the door for the breach exercises.
“FS Group fabricated the door from carbon steel,” Director of Marketing and Public Relations Ashley Bice said. “We were thrilled to get the call to see if we could contribute to the project and the answer was a resounding yes. It was a fantastic demonstration and I had no idea they could do so many things with this apparatus, we’re thrilled to play a part and know the door will last for many years of training.”
The drill run for the demonstration involved two firefighters crawling their way to the attic after finding nothing at the base, calling in for a vertical ventilation after noticing heat in the upper floor. Then a second crew mounted a ladder on the exterior and used a saw to cut a hole in the roof to allow the heat to escape. The demonstration also included a door breach and the aforementioned confined space crawl through the pipe.
Currently, the Guntersville Fire Department has twelve firefighters on shifts, averaging 250-300 calls per month, with a higher number reported during the summer months. The department manages the entire Guntersville area and in a single year can see over three thousand calls. The different shifts for the department use things like the prop to undergo training exercises on a daily basis.
“These things happen more often than you would think,” Putzig said. “You never know from day to day and you have to think outside the box. You may have to breach a door for somebody calling for help that can’t reach it, you may have to vertically ventilate if there’s a chimney fire and it’s too hot, you have to get that heat out for the firefighters to be able to get in and put the fire out. This means the world, not only does it mean we get to train and have these materials it reaches out to the whole community and everyone benefits. We’re very appreciative of everybody who donated and to see the community care so much, come together and set aside time from their daily activities.”
Discount Building Supply is located at 3801 AL-69 in Guntersville and offers a wide variety of building materials, tools and hardware supplies. Southern Pipe and Supply is located at 3857 Brashers Chapel Rd in Albertville and carries plumbing, HVAC and electrical supplies and FS Group is a custom fabrication shop located at 20 Wall Street in Albertville. You can find more information about the Guntersville Fire Department on their Facebook page at “Guntersville Fire/Rescue.”
