St. Elmo-Irvington Volunteer Fire Dept.

Dedicated to serving our community.

Training Blog

Confined Space

Did you know a firefighter in full gear can fit through a 14 inch gap?

In full bunker gear we practiced crawling through the rungs of a roof ladder several times. This involved putting our helmet through first, taking our SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) pack off and pushing it ahead of us, then crawling through and putting our SCBA & helmet on again.

We were not actually using the SCBA because tonight’s focus was on getting through the tight space quickly and efficiently. This training will be repeated at a later date while on air.

Gear Drills

Led by our training officer, William Storey, we went back to the basics tonight. The entire department, from the Chief to the newest probie, practiced timed gear drills. The focus was on speed, familiarity, and efficiency with getting our bunker gear on. By the end of the training everyone’s time had improved and there was some fun competition involved as well.

There were 14 of us at training tonight! A great turnout for the new year.

Interested in joining us? We meet the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Thursday of each month.

Vehicle Fires

Tonight Chief McKeever reviewed the hidden dangers of vehicle fires. He covered numerous scenarios on vehicle crashes with fuel leaks, dos and don’ts on approaching the vehicle, where to park the engine, and how to handle electric or hybrid vehicle fires.

St. Elmo-Irvington firefighters are continually training and learning, so we can better keep our community safe. -EGH (Everyone Goes Home)

Scene Size-Up

Training tonight was hands-on and included:

  • 360 degree scene size-up
  • incident command
  • communicating what you see clearly with command
  • command giving clear instructions

Mock incident #1: Dumpster fire that spread to a grass fire

Mock incident #2: ATV crash in the woods, ATV on fire

Afterwards Chief McKeever & Asst. Chief Schmidt reviewed what went right and offered tips on what could’ve gone better.

Turnout Gear and SCBAs

Donning and doffing turnout gear and SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) is a huge part of what we do. The main focus of tonight’s training was on accuracy. We train on speed later, but putting everything on properly must come first.


Discussing breathing control, air bottle time, how to activate PASS device, etc.