Every month, we were required to have two first-aid drills. We also had to have a multi-company drill, which meant that usually two other fire engines came. So there would be three fire engines and a truck company. You would either lay hose out, simulate a car rescue that required you to tear a car up with the jaws of life, practice rescuing people from upper floors, or how to fight an airplane or boat fire. 

We also had to have our in-service training. That training was where we got special drills like our EMT drills. An EMT course would last four to six months to be re-certified to be an EMT. So once a month we would have to go to those drills or any other special drills that the fire department figured we needed.

Once a year, we had what we called the killer drill. It was basically an obstacle course meant to test our endurance and strength. We would start at a 200-foot length of 2.5” hose that was coiled up. It had a heavy nozzle on the end, and the nozzle itself probably weighed about 15 pounds. You had to throw that nozzle over your shoulder and then drag the hose until it was stretched out. The farther you went, the harder it got and the more tired you got, so it was a test of your stamina. Next, we had to go through a 20 foot tunnel that was about three feet in diameter while pulling a 150lb sled that simulated the weight of an average person. We had to grab that sled and backpedal through the tunnel stooped over because it wasn’t tall enough to stand up in. After that, we ran to a four-story drill tower. We had to put a mask on, throw a 50 foot length of 2.5” hose over our shoulder (which weighed about 75 lbs), and climb the stairs up to the fourth floor. Then we dropped that hose down on the floor, and pulled another hose of the same weight up from the ground using a rope that had been hung out of the window on the top floor. From there we had to run back down the stairs, take the mask off, run another 50 feet and pick up the jaws of life (which also weighed about 75 lbs) from a table,  carry it 30 feet and put it on a higher table which was about chest high. As a final challenge, we had to run over to a ladder that had been strapped to the building. The ladder had two flys on it, and we had to raise those up to their full extension and then bring it back down. When the ladder was fully extended it was about 40’ high. Finally, we had to run over to the finish line. We had about five or six minutes to finish and you really had to hustle to get that job done. It was interesting and fun, but tiring.