For eight days at the end of the month of October, Massachusetts Task Force-1 hosted members from the Canadian Armed Forces, Newton Fire Department, and members of the Southeastern Technical Rescue Teams (Barnstable, Bristol, Norfolk and Plymouth) for a structural collapse technician course at their facility in Beverly.
Students worked for eight, 10-hour days in both classroom and practical settings covering an incredible amount of information, which spanned safety, lifting and moving, shoring operations, t-breaching and breaking, cutting with torches, and much more.
Students worked with an extensive cache of hand, pneumatic, hydraulic and gas powered tools. Both oxy-acetylene and Petrogen cutting tools were utilized and explained during training evolutions.
Students left the course with a vast understanding of structural collapses, and how to search for and rescue people who are trapped, thanks to the unmatched caliber of the experienced instructors.
– Fire News photos by Pat Travers
