22-05-2025
Watch: Hospital hosts SWAT for intense training in Douglas County
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — FOX31 got a rare front seat as SWAT members teamed up with other agencies for intense training. It all unfolded at a building set to be demolished in Douglas County.
With three cameras, FOX31 captured all angles of hostage and K-9 training scenarios. You can see the action in the video player above.
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'We can utilize all of our teams and all of our equipment in a building like this when somebody allows us to come in and train, and we can actually cause damage and use sims, we can use explosive breaches, without leaving somebody a bill for repair,' SWAT Sgt. Ryan Wolff said.
CommonSpirit Health invited the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and South Metro Fire Rescue to train in their 300,000 square foot office building slated for demolition.
'We want to make the most of the existing space and we're thankful that it provides an important opportunity for our partners with the sheriff's office,' said Audre Bagnall, Chief Strategy Officer for CommonSpirit Health Mountain Region.
'It's an awesome opportunity,' Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said. 'Our SWAT operators, our canines, they typically will train kind of in the same area, same buildings, things like that. So getting a change of scenery not only for the operators to give them different problems to solve, but also for the dogs.'
FOX31 captured K-9 Onyx in action, not once, but twice.
'We actually have operators that are embedded into some of the teams with Douglas County and they get to go in during emergencies, they're first and upfront with all of the operators,' South Metro Fire Rescue Battalion Chief JP Piche said.
With grant money, SMFR is now equipped with one of the only armored medical vehicles in the nation.
'That's been a huge game changer because under care, under fire or anything like that, we can get people in the back of that,' Piche said. 'We can start providing care. The back of is almost set up like a medic unit so we can do a lot of stuff back there, get them out. And it allows Douglas County and their teams to continue to make everything safe for the community as as things transpire in events.'
CommonSpirit Health plans to demolish their Douglas County building soon and break ground on a new medical campus later this year.
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