Citizen's Fire Academy Part 2

This week at the citizen's fire academy we learned about urban search and rescue. The Longmont, Colorado, Fire Department is part of one of twenty-six teams in the United States that can respond to local or national disasters. They have participated in the aftermath of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. These teams were originally formed to address natural disasters but after the Oklahoma City bombing adjusted their mission to include human-caused disasters as well. During our class, the team demonstrated cutting through steel, breaching concrete, lifting two tons of material with inflatable air bags, repelling down a building to rescue a stuck window washer and stabilizing an overturned automobile. Particularly impressive with their equipment: 117 pound per square inch air pressure can be used to inflate a bag to lift up to seventy-two tons.