SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – For the first time in 20 years, the San Francisco Fire Department and its union hosted Fire Ops 101.
It’s a unique hands-on training exercise for some elected officials to learn what firefighters battle on a daily basis.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, among the local and state leaders invited to the fire department’s training facility on Treasure Island Saturday, witnessed the hard-working men and women who respond to the city’s emergencies prepare for the unpredictable.
“Even though I’ve been around for almost 20 years, hearing it again and again, seeing their training from every aspect from search and rescue, to fighting live fires, to what you see here with the marine unit is remarkable to see,” Peskin said.
Firefighters staging real-life hazards, how to enter and exit burning buildings, performing CPR in the back of an ambulance, using the jaws of life to remove people from battered cars and watching cadaver dogs search through the rubble for bodies.
“You name it, the fire department does it,” Peskin said.
The local San Francisco Firefighters Union and the fire department co-hosting Fire Ops 101, and although firefighters train at this facility every day, this event sheds light on how important it is to maintain training centers like this.
Due to construction on Treasure Island, this facility is slated to close in 2024.
“We feel that our city officials, even some of our citizens, going through an understanding of what we are faced with will give us a better understanding of when we ask for certain things, that we’re just coming from our experiences that you guys have no idea about whatsoever,” Lieutenant Ken Smith with the San Francisco Fire Department said.
“Whether it is at Treasure Island or on other pieces of city land, whether it’s at the airport, we have excess land at the San Francisco Zoo, we will make sure that our firefighters have a state of the art training facility for decades to come,” Peskin said.
Hopefully ensuring communities stay safe across the city.