April 25, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Firefighter Recruit Injured During Live Exercise

A Shreveport firefighter recruit was injured and transported to a local hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation during a morning exercise at the department’s training academy.

The recruit, Corey Belle, 20, of Shreveport, was participating in a "smoke maze exercise," when the incident occurred around 11:00 a.m. The exercise, which places firefighter recruits in a room filled with thick, real smoke, and is constructed to form a maze, is designed to test the firefighter’s rescue and problem solving abilities. Belle was treated and transported to Willis Knighton Medical Center by department paramedics for breathing difficulties and disorientation. He is undergoing a breathing treatment at this time and is listed in good condition.

Prior to the incident, Belle had entered the maze room after climbing four flights of stairs with full firefighter protective clothing on, including an air tank and mask. Once inside the room, he was expected to find a mock victim somewhere in the maze. After finding the victim, the training officers created a problem which required the recruit to take off his air mask and breath air directly from the bottle. Toward the end of the drill involving Belle, who was leaving the maze room and ascending through an inside stairwell to another floor at the academy’s training tower, the recruit became disoriented and started experiencing breathing difficulties. Two training officers, inside of the tower and at Belle’s side throughout the exercise, were able to get the recruit out through a window and onto an outside stairwell.

Safety is of the utmost concern to the department during these type of "live" exercises. Extra safety measures are put in place to ensure that if an incident, like today, does occur, skilled firefighter training officers and paramedics are always within a few feet of the recruit. Additionally, other training officers are positioned, in full protective gear with air tank and mask, outside of the building ready to make an emergency entry if necessary. Thermal imaging cameras with outside monitors also allow officers to monitor the situation inside the room. This is exactly the purpose this type of training serves, to expose and prepare recruits to survive a real rescue and equipment failure incident. ###