Training ground: Columbus firefighters use NexusPark demo area to learn techniques

CALL it Nexus Park or the former FairOaks Mall. But for three days, some Columbus firefighters were calling the facility “Disneyland for firefighters.”

Parts of the building at 2380 25th St. scheduled for demolition were turned over to 93 city firefighters for unique training purposes, Columbus Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mike Wilson said.

Most of the first day of training took place where a former Hallmark outlet and a jewelry outlet used to be, as well as in the back hallways, Wilson said.

One dark room was filled with non-toxic smoke for training firefighters on finding unconscious victims and pulling them quickly to safety.

Many of the training exercises were a race against the clock to train on getting an injured person to safety, Wilson said. In those cases, both the victim and rescuer stay on the floor, and the victim is pulled out through a special technique that was demonstrated by Capt. Josh Allman during the training.

In the past, Columbus firefighters have only had one- or two-story homes to be used for training purposes, firefighter Ben Noblitt said. But the city has some buildings with different opportunities for training, he said.

For example, the former mall provides different obstacles firefighters don’t face during residential firefighting, Wilson said. He cited reinforced doors and the unique floor-plan as examples.

Parts of Nexus Park were offered for training purposes because the former mall has an industrial-style of construction that many local firefighters has never encountered before, firefighter Dan Acree said.

“This is different building materials used in a different construction method,” Acree explained. “We don’t get to see this every day, so when we have the chance to have hands-on training in a facility like this, it’s very beneficial.”

Training has become a priority with the retirement of several veteran firefighters, Wilson said.

One who is just beginning his career is firefighter Ethan Yeley, who joined the department less than three months ago. Yeley said when he set out to bring out a victim in a pitch black room filled with smoke, the experience was very challenging.

“You are in low visibility and can’t see much, so you have to rely on the feel,” Yeley said. “But you have to wear rubber gloves, so there’s not much feel. You have a limited ability to feel and see, and that’s all the senses you have. That makes it hard to find somebody down in the smoke.”

Yeley said he understands these training exercises will be repeated over and over until they become ingrained in his head, he said.

One of the trainers is Capt. Mike Sieverding, who began his career in 1984 as a volunteer firefighter in the small Ripley County town of Friendship. Over a dozen years later, Sieverding was hired as a professional firefighter in Columbus.

“Capt. Sieverding has taught rope rescue, vehicle and machinery extrication, ice-service rescue, swift water rescue and aircraft firefighting and rescue,” Wilson said.

When asked which type of firefighting is the most dangerous, Sieverding said every major call has unique circumstances with potential traps and pitfalls. But what really makes the difference, he said, is manpower and staffing.

“In the volunteer fire service, there’s only three or four firefighters at times,” Sieverding said. “But here, you have multiple companies coming in to do different tasks. But whether you are a paid professional or rural volunteer, the job is pretty much the same. Everything pretty much builds upon the basics.”

As he prepared for another training exercise in the mall, Yeley expressed confidence in his fellow firefighters training beside him. “I’ll tell you something,” he said. “Every person who is on the department is someone I would trust with my life.”