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It's Not Like What You See On TV For Real Life Firefighters
Fire school sounds intense in itself. But you have to it endure it to truly appreciate a firefighter's craft. Especially when thrown into a smoke chamber for the first time.

"That's really what you see, nothing like on TV, as soon as you go in you have to have your mask in full go, you might as well do this and learn your technique that way."

Smoke poured out from the trailer as Captain Scott Benson unlatched the door. He tells WGIL the toughest part for over a 100 firefighters during Saturday's day long training session was putting them in real smoke.

"This isn't training smoke, this is pallets and straw, so it's the real deal," Captain Bension says. "They are going in and relying on their SCBA's (self contained breathing apparatus), which is their air packs, as their sole source. We always have back up teams ready to go in case something does happen. People do go down, this is a hot day. It's going to be 80 degrees today, they are going to lose a lot of water, and they will become tired and beat."

Captain Benson was a main organizer of Saturday's Regional Fall Fire School in Galesburg.



(Area firefighters taking instruction Saturday at the Regional Fall Fire School in Galesburg. WGIL News Story and Photo by Kyle Schassburger)
08 27 11 by Newsroom
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