SAN DIEGO -
It was dark and breezy Monday night but that didn't stop San Diego Fire –Rescue from training. In fact, in enhanced it.
Copter 1 and Copter 2 made night water drops in Stonebridge as part of an annual training exercise. Chris Hartnell is a pilot for San Diego Fire-Rescue and is skilled at performing night water drops. He credits drills like the ones on Monday night for keeping him current.
"Without the exercises, we couldn't do our job," said Hartnell from inside Copter 1. "We constantly train to keep up our skills so that we are ready for that 2007 fire and the fire that we had just the other night "
The Copter crew put out a fire in Del Cerro Saturday night. Firefighters say they have one to night three fires a year that require water drops so the skills procedures need to be practiced.
"It allows firefighters to be comfortable working in a different environment, one where there's darkness one where they're not totally familiar with their surroundings," said Maurice Luque with San Diego Fire-Rescue.
Copter crews have help with state of the art night vision goggles which intensify light 6000 times. They are the same goggles the military uses in Afghanistan and Iraq. They cost $15,000 but the crew says they are invaluable. Chris Hartnell said they offer a distinct advantage to night time firefighting but they take some getting used to.
"During the daytime I believe we have like a 240 degrees of vision and at night with the goggles, we only have 40 degrees of vision," said Hartnell. "So you're constantly scanning."
Fire crews attacked a mock fire Monday night and had targets on the ground the water drops had to hit. After the exercise, there was a de-briefing where firefighters discussed what went well and what needs to be improved. This is the second year fire crews have used this new equipment and the Stonebridge location. They have been doing the exercise itself for six years.
Copter 1 and Copter 2 made night water drops in Stonebridge as part of an annual training exercise. Chris Hartnell is a pilot for San Diego Fire-Rescue and is skilled at performing night water drops. He credits drills like the ones on Monday night for keeping him current.
"Without the exercises, we couldn't do our job," said Hartnell from inside Copter 1. "We constantly train to keep up our skills so that we are ready for that 2007 fire and the fire that we had just the other night "
The Copter crew put out a fire in Del Cerro Saturday night. Firefighters say they have one to night three fires a year that require water drops so the skills procedures need to be practiced.
"It allows firefighters to be comfortable working in a different environment, one where there's darkness one where they're not totally familiar with their surroundings," said Maurice Luque with San Diego Fire-Rescue.
Copter crews have help with state of the art night vision goggles which intensify light 6000 times. They are the same goggles the military uses in Afghanistan and Iraq. They cost $15,000 but the crew says they are invaluable. Chris Hartnell said they offer a distinct advantage to night time firefighting but they take some getting used to.
"During the daytime I believe we have like a 240 degrees of vision and at night with the goggles, we only have 40 degrees of vision," said Hartnell. "So you're constantly scanning."
Fire crews attacked a mock fire Monday night and had targets on the ground the water drops had to hit. After the exercise, there was a de-briefing where firefighters discussed what went well and what needs to be improved. This is the second year fire crews have used this new equipment and the Stonebridge location. They have been doing the exercise itself for six years.
