In November 2011, Jefferson City firefighters climbed ladders and rescued residents through the windows of an apartment building on Mulberry Street that had caught fire.
With other similar structures throughout the city, the Fire Department is working to be ready for another such fire should one occur.
Fire personnel will be performing vent enter isolate search (VEIS) training through next week in a home on property owned by Trinity Lutheran Church in the 900 block of Swifts Highway.
"When we got on the scene of the Mulberry fire, we had jumpers and people hanging from the windows, so we were making quick rescues," JCFD Capt. Mike Schultz said. "This structure is similar to those apartments in that it is three stories high and this is an older structure, like we see in many parts of town."
Schultz said they could use VEIS as a tactic to search for trapped victims.
"The firefighter could climb a ladder to a second-floor window, break the window out and enter the room to search for a victim," Schultz said. "If firefighters locate a victim, they pass the victim through the window to another firefighter waiting on the ladder outside."
This is not a new rescue method, Schultz said, but it's always good to have this practice. Although JCFD personnel didn't have to perform this type of rescue during the May 22 tornado in Jefferson City, he added, this method could potentially be used in such a situation.
"If we had to get to the top portion of a structure, VEIS could be used in a tornado scenario, but it is primarily for fires," Schultz said.
Part of the practice involves a single firefighter putting up a two-man ladder to get into the building.
"We try to do as much as we can with as few guys as we can," Schultz said.