Pittsburgh-area firefighters share training course called "Fire Ops 101"

CBS News

22-05-2025

The Pittsburgh Firefighters IAFF Local Union gave the community an opportunity to see what it's like to be a firefighter. They're calling it Fire Ops 101, referring to a college course that starts at the very beginning.
They want to train decision-makers on what it means to be a firefighter, getting them up close and personal.
How Fire Ops 101 works
During the experiential event, fire is set off on the second-story training building. Meanwhile, on the ground level, participants are being briefed by a battalion chief. Within minutes, the participants walk right through the thick brown smoke into the flames - all suited up, wearing thick, fire-ready layers, oxygen tanks and masks in place.
It is this firefighting gear, and all it takes to fund firefighting, that is the purpose of this very real experience.
"When you go to leaders and decision-makers and talk about funding, it's just talk, right?" Tim Leech, vice president of the Pittsburgh Fire Fighters Union, said. "But, we want to actually put the things in their hand and let them feel and use the tools that we use."
At another station, they're learning CPR and lifesaving practices. The decision-makers include legislators from the local, state and federal levels, often the people who determine how much money is given to fire companies, like the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, holding this experiential event.
Nate Silcox, the executive director of the Pa. Senate Veterans and Emergency Affairs Committee, spoke to KDKA-TV and has experienced this event before.
"You think about all the stuff of firefighting, and then you do an exercise on your knees, touching somebody's back, following their lead, going around a room. It's very eye-opening in some of those regards. I mean it's much more physically strenuous than you ever imagined," Silcox said.
At another learning area, participants learn vehicle rescue using the jaws of life. In another area, they are making an actual climb up on a ladder truck that can cost $100,000 or more, but profoundly important when fighting fires and saving lives.
The term the local union uses for these exercises is "immersive," a no-holds-barred experience of exactly what firefighters experience.
Firefighters react to the training course
"There's not any of us who thinks we're heroes. We don't. We don't look at it that way. Every emergency, every time we go out, yeah, something could happen. You just don't know where you're going or what kind of incident you're going to," said Ed Farley, the battalion chief for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire.
Planners of this event would all say they need the necessary tools for what many call the heroic acts of these men and women. This event is designed to let decision makers feel for themselves the importance of equipping these "heroes" with what they need.
Seventy-five firefighters ended up training 28 influencers. It's an influence they hope they will take back to their law-making process.