Nearly a dozen Cole County residents who hope to one day become firefighters tested their skills Saturday during a live structure fire simulation.
For the past two months, 14 Cole County residents have been taking a class that focuses on firefighting techniques and procedures, said Alan Braun, training officer with the Cole County Fire Protection District. The live burn, at the Cole County Public Works parking lot, concluded the class.
"This is the day they all look forward to because they get to see live fire," Braun said.
The students are from the county's four fire protection districts - Cole County, Russellville-Lohman, Osage and Regional West, Braun said.
Sponsored by the Cole County Chiefs Association, the annual class gives students a taste of firefighting.
On Saturday, the students experienced different fire scenarios in a trailer. In one simulation, teams of three crawled through thick smoke from one end of the trailer to the other to extinguish a fire.
"This is an introductory course for people to find out if this is something they like, something they can handle, something they might want to do," Braun said.
The state instituted a basic 36-hour firefighter training course several years ago, but the program did not incorporate live fire, Braun said. The fire departments in Cole County partnered to create a spin-off program that incorporates live fire and other hands-on aspects of firefighting.