Live fire training will be held at the El Paso De Robles Safety and Training Center from November 19-22.
This marks the first time the new training facility has been used for an interactive fire training course.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, firefighters across the U.S. must take at least one live fire course per year.
The course consists of several demonstrations using real fire to simulate the types of scenes they respond to. One example includes setting fire to a dollhouse to see the fire's behavior and flow path.
In previous years, Paso Robles firefighters had to travel to San Luis Obispo to meet the annual requirement.
“The only place that does live fire training here is down in the south county... Cuesta College basically," said Paso Robles City Fire Battalion Chief Brian Lewis. "For our units to go down there, it’s expensive. We have to pay overtime, we have to have them out of service. Having it local, we can still respond to calls in the city and do the training."
Lewis shared how live training offers unique learning opportunities.
“You can read and look at things in a textbook but you can only get so much from it, so when you take it and you put it into the dollhouse, you actually see the fire and the smoke traveling," Lewis said.
That’s why Tuesday marked a historic event for Paso Robles Fire crews as instructors took a live fire course at the training center in town.
Paso Robles City Fire Training Captain Robby Smith said the fire department has grown.
"It’s an exciting time for our department. We’ve realized a lot of growth over the last number of years," Smith said.
The instructors who took the live training course this week will teach the class to incoming firefighters.
Smith said the facility will be open to first responders throughout the county.
“Atascadero Fire, CAL FIRE, Camp Roberts, anybody with Five Cities, anybody within the county. Not only fire agencies but police departments will be able to come and utilize the facility as well," Smith said.
Lewis added that access to this site will improve collaboration between local agencies.
"When we have a large incident, we all work together, so the fact that we work together in an actual emergency, it’d be nice to work together in a practice setting and see what people’s standard operating procedures are,” he said.
