Firefighters from 19 communities are training for the unthinkable in Rockland, Massachusetts, as they learn how to save their own lives if a mayday call ever has to be made.
It is four days of intensive training they say is key for when it is not a drill. The scenarios draw on lessons from actual line of duty deaths in hopes that they can prevent more incidents from happening in the future.
"This is a different training. This training is purely about saving ourselves, any firefighter who is trapped, injured or hurt," Marc Oshry of the Rockland Fire Department said during training on Wednesday. "We do funerals really well, but we don't want to do anymore."
The Rockland Fire Department brought the Fire Ground Survival Training Program to Massachusetts after receiving a grant of $386,046 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The grant was given with the purpose to help firefighters learn how to survive the most dangerous emergency situations.
It is training that is top of mind after two firefighters were killed in Delaware over the weekend.
Many of the participants also remember the two firefighters were killed while fighting a fire in Boston's Back Bay in 2014.
"Even if we can bring something back to our department that's going to help a guy out, he might remember that one thing that's going to get him out of a bad situation," Louis LaChance of the Hingham Fire Department said.
