Boulder firefighters host day-long course Saturday
The sixth annual Greek Fire Academy gave 24 sorority and fraternity fire safety officers a crash course in fire extinguisher use, evacuation, fire behavior and fire service on Saturday.
The University of Texas at Austin collaborated with the Austin Fire Department to create a program that would improve relations between Greek chapters in 2001. Austin’s program has since gone defunct due to budget restrictions, but the spirit of it has been embraced by CU and the Boulder Fire Department.
“The sororities and fraternities have really gotten behind it,” said Sherry Kenyon, Boulder’s fire safety education coordinator. “They each go back to their chapter houses and teach what they’ve learned.”
The Greeks were assigned to a fire crew who worked through fire simulations.
“They have to navigate through theatrical smoke and four flights of stairs, and the smoke tower. They wear all the gear and put wax paper in their masks to see how it is to breathe in a fire,” Kenyon said. “It shows them how difficult it is to see in smoke, which is why they need to keep their exits clear. So if you find yourself in a smoke filled environment, you have to get out of there.”
The students climbed to the top story of a smoke tower via the fire truck ladder. Four stories tall, the building was filled with non-toxic theatrical smoke. The rooms were full of obstacles such as mattresses and barrels, and the second floor played host to a fake fire. The students had to find their way to the exit on the first floor in minimal light and heavy smoke.
“I like the building, navigating down through the smoke, as long as I’m not in front,” said Elise Campagna, a junior architecture major.
In another station, the students donned full gear to save Rescue Randy from a burning building. The building, which actually burns during firefighter training, remained cold for the Greeks. However, with painted black, soot-covered walls and minimal light, it was disorienting.
To further confuse the situation, the wax paper stuffed inside each mask replicated the blinding and suffocating effects of smoke. Inside, the students crawled, covering each room in search of Rescue Randy.
“Finding it was pretty easy, but then we kept butting heads, literally,” said Matt Gaudyn, a senior chemical engineering major and Campagna’s teammate. “On the way out, I was going butt cheek first.”
Also on the agenda was a lesson in fire extinguishers as students learned to put out a large chemical fire.
Finally, participants ran the obstacle course which included weighted stair runs, ladder work, carrying Rescue Randy and dragging a fire hose.
The day ended with a very wet fire hose relay which pitted the firefighters against the Greeks.
According to Kenyon, Greek fire safety has improved in the years since the Fire Academy began. Rather than the fire inspections and lecturing of the past, the department now tries to teach the students why fire codes exist through practical methods.
The program’s goals revolve around the Three Es: Engineering, Enforcement and Education. The program works to ensure that all buildings are up to code with appropriate smoke alarms, sprinklers, exit signs and cleared pathways. Biannual inspections enforce the rules, and the annual Fire Academy educates. Together, the Three Es are meant to help prevent fire when possible and to save lives when fires do happen.
“They learn about the firefighter’s perspective,” Kenyon said. “We don’t ever want to go into a house looking for them!”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Danielle Alberti at alberti@colorado.edu.
