This fall firefighters from Stanford Heights, Fort Hunter, and the Westmere got together for a combined FAST drill. FAST stands for “Firefighter Assist and Search Team.”

A FAST team is a team of two or more firefighters dedicated solely to the search and rescue of other firefighters in distress. FAST shall have no other operational assignment during an incident except maintaining readiness Incase a firefighter becomes incapacitated during an incident.
First firefighters were shown a technique to perform CPR on a firefighter who is wearing full protective gear, groups practiced this technique a couple times before moving on to the second station. The second station showed firefighters different techniques to prepare a downed firefighter for removal, this is called packaging, each group practiced this as well. Finally groups of firefighters performed a search in a smoke filled environment to locate, package and removal of an incapacitated firefighter. Overall it was a great drill, these three departments have never drilled together before, and we look forwarded to training with our brethren from Guilderland again soon. As always thank you to Lori Washburn for the photos.