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Five Bartlesville firefighters went through training to enhance their skills at the Tulsa Fire Training Center over the weekend.

Firefighter Justin Miller said they brushed up on search techniques under live fire conditions with high heat and zero visibility. He said they ran four different scenarios, with the first being the Vent, Enter, Search (VES) method

"If we have a known location of a victim(s) in a bedroom we would then Vent the bedroom window, Enter the window and then Search the bedroom, first closing the bedroom door to isolate the fire spread while we search the entire bedroom for victims, then going back out the window we came in," Miller said.

The other techniques they brushed up on were “Truck Company search” and “engine company search." Truck search is a method of searching with a thermal imaging camera that allows firefighters to see through the smoke and find fire for the fire attack team while they search for victims.

"Once we locate the seat of the fire, we work back from the seat of the fire, searching throughout the building to find victims," Miller said. "While we are searching the captain is behind, usually in the door way of a room staying oriented, operating the thermal imaging camera (TIC) watching and directing the rescuers and locating victims for the rescuers to retrieve."

Lastly, the Bartlesville firefighters brushed up in engine company search, which is a lot like truck company search but they stayed oriented with the fire hose. 

Bo Formby and Lee Brammer attended the ropes rescue class. Justin Marshall, JC Hubbard and Justin Miller attended the live fire victim search class instructed by 24 Oklahoma Smoke Diver search class.

This training event is annual and free to all firefighters. The State Fire School has classes for the Firefighter that’s been on the job for 20 seconds to 20 years, from basic firefighter fundamentals to Fire Chief classes.

"The fire service is constantly changing with society and technology and so it is important to stay current with the times so that we can provide the best service to our citizens," Miller said. "Our members constantly train on all types of scenarios while on duty at the fire house and when firefighters go to these types of trainings they bring back the new things they have learned and hopefully soon we will get with our members and discuss it as a crew and get some reps in."