Ironically, sometimes fire departments work with each-other on a regular basis at emergencies, but don't often train with one another. This past Wednesday, our Firefighter Assist & Search Team was invited to a drill with the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department, one of our frequent Mutual Aid partners.

The purpose of the drill, organized by BMFD's Chief Dennis Reilly, was to give his members a view of our FASTeam, which responds to structure fires in their jurisdiction. Our team's leadership - which includes Senior Team Leaders Asst. Chief Chris Colombo, Lieutenants Jim Ferguson and Dave Rinaldi as well as the author - reviewed what our team does, who we are, what equipment we utilize and what to expect from us when we respond to the scene of a fire.

Once we completed the above overview, we reviewed some basic firefighter survival skills, how to call for help (AKA a "Mayday") on the radio, and how to help one another, should anyone ever get into a bad situation while operating in a structure fire. The nearly 30 BMFD members and those from the CFDFAST followed this up with some "Mayday" rescue scenarios, where BMFD members would call for help and see how our team would come in to assist them.

Another benefit of this evening's drill was for our Team Leaders to get some training on the Scott Pak-Tracker device that the BMFD uses. This firefighter locator system uses high-frequency radio waves that sends a distress signal from a firefighter's SCBA to the receiving unit outside, usually at the Command Post. With our Team Leaders trained on this potentially life-saving equipment, we hope to implement it at actual fire scenes in the future - with the hope of never actually needing to use it.

We would like to extend our appreciation to the Chiefs, Officers and Members of the BMFD for inviting us to this great evening of training and review. We also look forward to future drills and training with the men and women of Briarcliff Manor FD.

If any other department in our area would like to conduct similar training with the CFDFAST, or if you have any questions about how our team operates, please contact Deputy Chief John Munson at jmunson@crotonfd.org.

We would also like to thank the Millwood Fire Department for allowing us to, once again, use their Training Center.