Sudbury fire students train in dark, confined trailer maze

Firefighting students at Sudbury’s Cambrian College trained in a specialized trailer on Tuesday to hone lifesaving skills. Alana Everson reports.

A specialized fire training trailer was at Cambrian College in Greater Sudbury on Tuesday for the first time.

Students took part in confidence and confined space training to build their life-saving skills in the Pre-Service Firefighting Education and Training Program.

Student Madison Ellis, 19, was mentally preparing to maneuver a maze inside a trailer blindfolded when speaking with CTV News. She was wearing 90 pounds of gear while making her way through confined spaces.

“The faster you breathe the more oxygen you are going to burn so you kinda got to use the skip breathing method,” she said.

“You have to control your breathing the most thing is to stay calm.”

The scenarios are all done while in the dark with students wearing oxygen tanks.

“It’s really tricky to get through the small spaces with an extra foot on your back almost,” said another Cambrian student, Justyn Hollywood.

“You have got to use different techniques that you wouldn’t think your body would fit through like going backwards through small spaces that you wouldn’t think you would and a lot more maneuvering than you would think to get through small spaces.”

One of the scenarios was a team training exercise to rescue a victim.

“You have to go through a confined space, also know how to react based on enclosures and it’s very, very psychologically hard,” said instructor Steven Salonin.

“They have to experience this if they want to become firefighters.”

The 20 students told CTV News that the training was invaluable.

“Sometimes you think you are not going to fit at all and you can start to get panicked – you have to keep calm in the mind,” said Hollywood.

The trailer also provides unique training opportunities for mine rescue and industrial emergency response teams.