Southeastern Guide Dogs’ old student center serves community one last time

Firefighters from the North River and Southern Manatee fire departments responded to a call of a fire and a missing man at Southeastern Guide Dogs on Tuesday morning, but it was all part of a training exercise.

Firefighters were able to use Southeastern’s old student center, slated for demolition now that the multi-million dollar Barpal-Hirst Student Center officially opened in early September.

“It’s kind of cool before it comes down that it gets to serve again one last time by helping the fire departments have some real life, real world training,” said Leslie Rowe, spokeswoman for Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Firefighters breached the old student center about 9:10 a.m. and immediately noticed heavy smoke coming from under a door that leads to the center’s old offices. The smoke was created by a special machine firefighters use. The machine simulates smoke with water vapor, but the affect on the environment surrounding the firefighters is extremely realistic.

“This opportunity doesn’t come up very often,” said North River Fire Department training Captain Jeff Dirling. “We do a lot of training in our training facilities, but when we can get an actual building like this, it’s of great value to us because these guys have not seen the inside of this building before. Coming into a strange environment teaches them the real life skills to be successful.”

The exercise involved a search and rescue team locating the “victim,” followed by a hose line crew to ensure the rescuers don’t become victims themselves. Upon breaching the far door, visibility went to zero. Firefighters are trained to “see with their hands,” said Dirling, who added they must remain in constant communication with one another.

It took about a minute for the firefighters to locate the victim in the dense smoke and extract him from the building.

“I’d say it went pretty well,” Dirling said after the drill. “We just don’t get opportunities like this as often as we’d like.”

Rowe said the student center will be used by various fire departments over the next few weeks as demolition permits are pulled. In the building’s place will be a parking lot for the new student center.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Southeastern Guide Dogs’ old student center serves community one last time."