Rescue Team Sharpens Skills at Practice Drill

Firefighters from five Ventura County agencies converged on a ramshackle corrugated aluminum building at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station on Friday, crawling in through walls, dropping in from holes cut in the roof and bursting through doors, in search of four “trapped” people.

But rather than battling a real blaze, these agencies were taking part in one of an elaborate series of training exercises designed to improve communication among different agencies, assess the effectiveness of rescue equipment and keep firefighters’ skills as sharp as possible, said Ventura County Fire Protection District Capt. Mark Taillon.

“The training you get on one of these drills will last for years,” he said. “Nothing can beat this kind of training.”

During Friday’s drill, seven scenarios had been constructed, including breaking through concrete walls, tunneling through debris and working with fallen wood-frame structures.

One scenario recreated the collapse of the Northridge Meadows Apartments complex, which crumpled in last year’s earthquake. Firefighters cut holes in the wooden roof of the scaled-down model, working their way down to the first floor to reach the trapped “victim.”

The drills lasted much of the day and included departments from the county, Point Mugu, Ventura, Port Hueneme and Camarillo State Hospital.

The 25 to 30 participants also had an opportunity to learn what does and does not work in a search-and-rescue situation, Taillon said.

For example, in one past drill, “The search-and-rescue dogs didn’t perform as well in a tunneling situation because for some reason smells in the tunnel dissipated,” he said.

Among the six pumper trucks, one ladder truck and myriad saws, jackhammers and other rescue equipment, sat Murphy, a 2 1/2-year-old black Labrador retriever. She and her owner, Ojai resident Wilma Melville, were there to continue Murphy’s training.

“Having a search and rescue dog is a big commitment,” said Melville, who added that she had spent $4,000 on Murphy in training equipment and travel expenses last year. She said it requires two years to fully train a search-and-rescue dog.

Whether for man or beast, the training and practice these drills provide are integral to saving lives in emergencies, Taillon said.

“We always prefer to sharpen our skills here, rather than on an actual call,” he said. “There, we need to be sharp.”