Rapid City Fire Department completes high-rise training

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) -The Rapid City Fire Department is completing its high-rise training in the downtown area.

The end of a three-month training period for the Rapid City Fire Department was marked by a high-rise training exercise. The training puts all the concepts that the firefighters have learned in the three-month period together.

“We are going up the stairs and were stretching hose, charging it with our standpipe system and getting the crews that experience on the charge hose line, actually in a stairwell in a stimulated building so they can better learn and understand how to use it,” said Marshall Keefe, with the Rapid City Fire Department.

While this training can help prepare firefighters for all emergency events, it is specifically built to accommodate fires in buildings that have a standpipe system, which can be seen in most high-rise buildings, which for the Rapid City Fire Department is anything over four stories.

“So, this stuff is more designed for a fire in those type of buildings where we have to go up a lot of stairs, we have to carry a lot of equipment, so this stuff is designed for something more along that line, but all the training is applicable to pretty much everything we do in our job,” said Keefe.

In addition, the training will prepare the firefighters for the new equipment and standards that are being implemented for a fire event that can occur in a high rise.

“It is important because we are actually switching to all new equipment and standards for our high-rise response or standpipe building response. It’s not something we do frequently but it’s something we need to be good at because it’s a very high-risk event,” said Keefe.

The last of the high-rise training will finish Wednesday.