A.C. newest firefighters feel the heat during week 5 of training
EGG HARBOR TWP. -
Training continues for Atlantic City's thirteen newest firefighters.
It's the kind of chaos these men have been waiting for since their first day of training. Finally getting to feel the heat of a real fire.
"It's very disorienting having all black in there, increasing the amount of fire inside the building," said recruit, Patrick McDevitt.
And extinguishing the blaze recruit Adrian Wilson says is a collaborative effort from everyone on site.
"You got primary attack, secondary attack, the search team, ventilation, everybody has a job and if everybody is doing the right things it all works out smoothly."
The team follows steps that are meant to get the job done, and keep every body safe.
"Now it's real," said recruit, Tim Brining. "It comes together, its nice to actually be getting out there and preparing for the job you are going to be doing in real life."
Adding the element of fire to their training may seem like the last step before being able to go out on a real call, but with three more weeks of training left these recruits say they still have a lot left to learn.
And they're learning from those already working in the field.
"I'm constantly biting at their heals, when I feel something is unsafe I want them to button it up, stay uptight, get close and just listen to me," said Battalion Chief, Angelo DeMaio.
"I just want to be like a sponge and soak all this knowledge up from them. Learn as much as we can because we only have a limited amount of time here at the academy," said recruit, Eric Koob. "So you want to learn as much as you can and get ready to hop on the line with them."
NBC40 will continue to follow the recruits once a week for the remainder of their training.
