Drill Focuses on Forcible Entry and Wall Breaching
 
By Ex Chief Dean W. Pappas
September 9, 2019
 

KFD members trained on going through walls and forcing doors during Monday night's drill. The wall prop consists of a wood frame with the wall studs 16 inches apart, as they would be in a regular home's interior walls behind the sheetrock. The idea behind this prop is to simulate if a firefighter is trapped in one room, and his or her only exit is to go through a wall to the adjoining room. Members first drilled on going through the prop without sheetrock, and using the self-contained breathing apparatus (air packs) that they would use while fighting a fire inside a house. Then, sheetrock was attached to the prop, and members had to go through the sheet rock, and then go between the wall studs. Additional drilling was also done on the forcible entry door prop that the county has placed at our training annex, as we are a satellite training center for Westchester County's fire academy. The drill was a good review of two basic skills firefighters must have in order to more effectively gain entry and fight a fire.