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Columbia Fire Department prepares to save lives

Several different fire departments across the Midlands put recruits through a life-like drill that will help them save lives.

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Several different fire departments across the Midlands put recruits through a life-like drill that will help them save lives.

Columbia Fire Department wants the drill to model a real life scenario.

"The fake smoke will be so thick that they will have to get on their hands and knees and crawl to search for the fire," said training captain Jason Joannides. "As they begin to move in the goal is for them to start putting the fire out but also for the search crews to find this dummy that I put in and that dummy weighs about three hundred pounds and the goal is to find him and move him out the building."

Marion Binsley is one of the firefighters who went through the training

"There are several stairwells and you don't really know where they are unless your feeling around. It's definitely low visibility you couldn't get the heat factor being in a training scenario," Binsley said. "But it was super life like..other than the heat but the visibility and the communication was spot on."

Columbia fire department does this training periodically for all firefighters, regardless of their years of service. They will continue this training through the rest of the week.

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