Where there's smoke...

Smoke envelopes a rescue crew as they start a life fire exercise. Rookie firefighters admitted that the training facility gave them a very realistic look at how challenging it gets to enter a smoke-filled building and find their way around in the darkness to reach their objective. Photo by Brian S. Orban

It took just a few moments for the smoke from the blaze to completely fill the rooms. Interior heat quickly reached temperatures hot enough to instantly blister the structure's exterior paint.

One by one, teams of novice firefighters made their way through the compact structure trying to battle the flames. With the smoke reducing visibility to practically nothing, they relied heavily on their training to help them fight the flames.

Saturday's live-fire exercise gave the fire crews just a taste of what they'll experience when called to a structural fire. Conducted by the Mountain Home Fire Department, it culminated the Idaho Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services Association's annual conference.

It was the first time that Mountain Home had hosted the association's yearly gathering, which brings together representatives from volunteer fire departments and emergency medical services groups from across the state.

Saturday's training allowed the fire crews a chance to run through one of two different scenarios at the city's fire training center next to the public works department.

A converted shipping container pressed into service as a simulated home served as the scenario for a live-fire exercise. Crews of three firefighters had to crawl through the structure to reach and then extinguish the actual flames.

Meanwhile, a separate scenario in a two-story training structure required crews to search through the smoke-filled facility, encountering obstacles typically found in a fire.

Visiting firefighters gave the experience a solid thumb's up.

"There were some intense moments in there. The visibility in here was very limited," said James Baird with the Ucon Fire Department, shortly after he completed the live fire training.

Travis Kearney, also with the Ucon Fire Department, was amazed how quickly the smoke-filled room cut his team's visibility to nearly zero after they stepped inside. He admitted that he couldn't see either of his two teammates even though they were less than three feet away.

"The heat really wasn't too bad. It started off slow and then got hot," added Larry Bybee with the Jerome Fire Department. "It was a little bit hot when the water hit the fire, and it made a whole lot of steam."

Bybee, who joined the Jerome department in January 2010, felt the training exercise gave him and other firefighters the experience they need to deal with actual structural fires.

"The live fire training is good practice for us. "We never get to do this type of (realistic) training back home," he said.

Bybee, who hasn't dealt with an actual structural fire, still remembers the first fire he ever fought -- a small-scale blaze that was contained to a trash dumpster.

"I never imagined how hot it gets, even with our (protective) gear," he said. The firefighter still remembers the burns he received after the steam from the water hit him as he battled the flames.

Bybee figures that training exercises like the one conducted here Saturday will help others avoid those types of mistakes and give them the confidence to successfully battle those types of fires.