Channel 5 “burns” in fire simulation
It is not unusual for citizens to call this station at all hours of the day and night to report news. Fires are the subject of many unsolicited alerts, but it’s not very often that we get a call reporting a fire… at our own building. That’s what happened this morning, but it’s not quite what you think.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
No one really thought that the day would come when Channel 5 would be covering a tragedy at its own doors. But sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 this morning thick smoke was oozing out the windows of the building.
Stewart Krohn, News Editor Talking to Firemen
“There’s two people still inside, one upstairs and one in the basement.”
The call went in to the Fire department at 9:36, fire fighters left the station at 9:37 and by 9:44 three engines were at the source of the fire at 17 Regent Street. It appeared that the television station was about to be burnt to the ground.
Though the situation was dramatic, it was more like a Hollywood production because the fire was not real. According to Ted Smith, Operations Officer for the Fire Department, today’s fire drill, done with our full cooperation, was designed to test and improve the skills of the fire fighters.
Ted Smith, Operations Officer, Fire Department
“The simulation exercise is to better prepare the fire fighter to deal with fires, casualties. In this one you noticed there were people reported missing, still inside the building. Therefore a rescue needed to be in effect. Fire fighting must still go on, but the priority then becomes the rescuing. So our main priority in that kind of operation would be to rescue whatever causality is in there, then our fire fighting becomes secondary. But they must be simultaneously because we also need to protect the rescuers going in, as you notice how we tried to implement that a while ago.”
And in this exercise two Channel 5 employees were left trapped inside the building. Master Control Operator Christopher Mangar was inside the studio on the third floor and reporter Ann Marie Williams, was working diligently on a story in the building’s lower flat, until she was overcome by smoke.
Though the experience was orchestrated, the reality of the situation struck home for Mangar. Soon after the fire started someone called his sister, who rushed out to the scene as he was being carried out the building apparently unconscious.
Christopher Mangar, Fire Victim
“I just lay there for a couple seconds and she kept on beating on my chest. “Chris you alright”. And when I finally realized she was freaking out for real, then I opened my eyes and informed her it’s just an exercise we were doing here at work..”
Jose Sanchez
“I understand one of the firemen was also injured as part of the exercise.
Ted Smith
“He was not really injured, I created that as part of the exercise. I went there I didn’t like the way he was positioned. Based on if it was a real fire you will not be able to position there or else you would receive and injury. Therefore, I automatically called him a casualty and asked him to wait out.”
The position of that fireman was not the only flaw as there were a few other creases in the drill that needed to be ironed out.
Ted Smith
“You need to bear in mind these people don’t know the building. There were some obstacles, we smoked the building so they were unable to see where they were going and there was some little factors that occurred outside that we need to sort out.”
Because Belize City has many wooden homes, the possibility of infernos are always a threat, so the fire department always co-ordinates drills with Belize Electricity Limited, the Police Department and the Belize Emergency Response Team.
Jose Sanchez
“How many patients did you receive and how did you handle their situation?”
Javier Canul, Emergency Medical Technician, BERT
“Basically, I received two patients. One was smoke inhalation, passed out from smoke inhalation, which we dealt quickly with by applying a little digit on the patient’s finger to see the amount of oxygen the patient is receiving. Thereby, we treat the patient with as much oxygen as necessary, which should be fifteen litres of oxygen. The second patient we received was severe dehydration caused by the heat that the suit contained. We quickly took off the patient’s clothing and gave him an I.V., oxygen and allowed him to cool down.”
The skills of emergency response teams must constantly be tested because every situation produces different challenges. And this simulation will definitely help to save lives when the fires are truly blazing.
Ted Smith
“We go back to the drawing board on what we call a critique in our lecture room. We sit down, we go over the drill step by step, we look upon strength and weaknesses and we try to implement measures to strengthen those weaknesses and see how best we can serve the community.”
Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
Fire chief Henry Baizar, whose wife was one of those evacuated this morning, told us that drills like the one conducted today are crucial for the training of our fire fighters.
DUE TO THE EASTER HOLIDAY, OUR NEXT NEWSCAST WILL BE ON APRIL SEVENTEENTH.
