Training

September 13th 2007 - B shift went to the Delray Beach Water Treatment Plant to train for confined space environments. The crews monitored the atmosphere, setup tripod with a lowering system, lowered rescuers approx 30 feet down and then the rescuers had to make their way out the other side.

July 15th, 2007 - Firefighter Trey Cameron enjoying a nice day of diving at the lake at Station 42.

April 26th 2007 - C Shift spends the day at Station 42 practicing dive scenarios.

March 22nd 2006 - Special Operations Station 31 "B" Shift went to a radio tower located at P.B.C.F.R. Station 21 to practice rope rescue techniques. Special Operations members geared up, then climbed approx. 80-100 feet up the tower and became the victims that were lowered to the ground.

November 2005 - Some members of Special Operations 31 have attended the University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy for the Department of Energy's Industrial Fire Training Course. Click here for more information and recent pictures.

November 5th, 2005 - Lately Special Operations 31 has been called to assist other stations with heavy extrications with cars resting upside down and the occupants also upside down with their seatbelts holding them in place. One technique is to gain access from the trunk of the car and then cutting the back side of the seat away. Crews from Station 31 B shift got out of the station and played "what if" while cutting up vehicles which offered valuable training and experience.

Chlorine A Kit Training

October 5th 2005 - B shift practices using the Chlorine "A" kit while in full Level A protection. Different techniques were used which allowed the crews to come up with their own ideas while still completing the task of stopping the leak and returning to a hero's welcome!

B Shift Extrication Training

July 1st 2005 - The crew from B Shift went to the local wrecking yard to practice extrication techniques on junk cars. The owner of the wrecking yard had a variety of cars and even flipped some of the cars on the side to allow a more "realistic" training opportunity. A total of 5 cars were torn apart in a short time span of 4 hours.

Rope Rescue Training

April 2nd 2005 - Crews from Station 31 B Shift practiced some Rope Rescue Techniques near Palm Beach International Airport late Saturday afternoon.

Dive Rescue Training

March 6th 2005 - Crews from Station 31 tried out new communications equipment on a brisk Sunday morning. The new equipment works like a telephone where the diver and line tender can communicate with other. The new equipment worked well with little or no complaints from all three shifts that tested the equipment. We hope to have the new equipment available on both Special Operations Trucks soon!

Confined Space Drill at Palm Beach International Airport

All three shifts from Station 31 in partnership with the Fire Rescue crews from PBIA practiced rescuing a utilities worker who became unconscious for unknown reasons below ground approx. 15 feet in a electrical vault at PBIA. The Special Operations crews practiced various lowering and raising techniques, air monitoring, patient packaging, and dewatering problems.

Personnel onsite learned the great importance of safety with regards to the patient and other team members working around the scene. Rescuers had to perform their job functions while tied off or secured to a fixed object to minimize the risk of falling in the hole and becoming a patient thus hampering any rescue efforts of the fallen utility worker.

After three long days of classroom training, the crews were sent to a remote site of a proposed County park in western suburban Boca Raton. There, trenches were dug with a backhoe to a depth of approximately ten feet by four feet wide. Crews used a specially equipped unit, Tactical 31, designed and equipped by recently retired District Chief John Wright. Tactical 31 carries are wide array of lumber, saws, hand tools, a generator, and air activated jacks which can be used in shoring structural collapses as well as trenches. Large barrier walls were constructed by each team and lowered into the hole while other team members secured rescuers with safety ropes. Due to the high water table in South Florida, the trench quickly filled with water which had to be continuously pumped out with a portable pump carried on the tactical unit.

Fire-Rescue is many things to many people. Most people don't, however, think of firefighters and bomb squad technicians working hand-in-hand. But that's what firefighters from Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue's Special Operations units and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Explosive Ordnance Team do on a regular basis. July 1st, firefighters and cops got together again to train in the use and wear of special explosive and chemical resistant protective suits.

Firefighters from Special Operations Station 31 received hands-on training at their station in suburban Lake Worth. Each "C" shift crew member was able to don the bulky suits, wander around in them, perform small tasks and even climb ladders before others practiced removing them from the cumbersome gear in an emergency situation.

The training enables the two distinctly different agencies to better use each others specialized equipment as well as to better understand and anticipate each others' operations and expectations in highly stressful situations.

Florida Power and Light's (FPL) St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant experienced a major radiation leak this past Friday, June 23, putting emergency forces in action to the north and south of the exposed area. As evacuees were directed out of the contamination zone into neighboring Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach Fire-Rescue's and Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue's Special Operations teams sprang into action to prevent further contamination by the radiological waste. Fortunately, this was only a drill in conjunction with Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and FPL. The drill was held at John Prince Park in suburban Lake Worth.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office assisted with crowd control and directing of "dirty" victims as they drove their cars through radiation detection monitors and into separate staging areas. Fire-Rescue Special Operations crews set up decontamination areas and and simulated cleaning and monitoring of "victims."

Many agencies were on hand to supervise the event including, Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), and local media. The American Red Cross was on hand to provide refreshment for those involved. Due to recent implementation of a new 800mhz radio system, all of the participating agencies were able to communicate with each other without typically associated radio problems.

December 28th, 2002 - Crews from station 31,33 and 34 took part in a training burn in an old house converted to a medical care retreat. The facility was donated for training, crews will continue training at the multi structure location through January.

Palm Beach County Special Operations Station 19 and 31 C Shift 5/31/2002 took part in interior building collapse simulating a injured firefighter trapped under the debris.

P.B.C.F.R. Special Operations A shift practice water rescue training at the Haverhill Bridge Extension. A haul system and lowering system were built during the training to gain access to the water, with a ladder used for a high anchor point. Water rescue was simulated with the use of SO31 boat.

This is a picture of Palm Beach County Fire Rescue's first dive team class. This goes back some years, so no laughing!