The Hot Box: training day for firefighters

It was hot, smoky and impossible to see. The only sound was the crackling of the fire and the Darth Vader-like sound of the breathing apparatus. I was sitting in a metal trailer with about a dozen firefighters while the temperature steadily rose hundreds of degrees and licks of flame soon moved through the space, inches above our heads.

We were in the Hot Box, a custom-built flashover simulator used to train firefighters. A flashover is the stage of a fire at which all surfaces and objects in an enclosed space ignite, an event that happens nearly simultaneously.

The Hot Box is designed to simulate a hallway that firefighters might go through, while the fire at the other end simulates a room that is engulfed in flame. The fire is several feet higher than the rest of the structure and, said Ryan Hogencamp, one of the instructors, in a real-life situation the firefighters would be on the same level, meaning the flames shooting above our heads would be coming directly at us.

I was sitting next to Hogencamp in the simulator, wearing his old turnout gear. He’s the second assistant chief for the Niverville Fire Company and has been a member since age 16. For the last two-and-a-half-years he’s been a firefighter for the Air Force, attached to the 109th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard in Scotia.

Hogencamp pointed out to me the changes that took place in the Hot Box as they opened various vents and doors and penciled water from a hose at the flames. I could see the smoke begin to condense and slowly move back towards the fire, and of course it was hard to miss the bursts of fire caused by the smoke igniting in the superheated room.

The Hot Box is attached to a truck and was hauled from Michigan to the Stuyvesant Fire House for a weekend long training for fire companies from Columbia and neighboring counties, with one firefighter there all the way from Wayne County.

“It’s one of a kind,” Lee Finlayson said of the Hot Box. He’s a Lieutenant in the Grand Rapids Michigan Fire Department and an instructor for Inner Circle Fire Training, Inc. He’s been a firefighter for nearly 20 years and before that served as a firefighter for the Coast Guard.

The other instructors were Kevin Carmel and Pat Cooper, also from Grand Rapids.

Finlayson said they have been doing training with the Hot Box for about five years. They began doing it for their own firefighters, he said, but were soon taking the training to other area fire departments. They’ve trained firefighters as far away as Chile.

“We’ve taken at least 2,000 firefighters through this, 10 at a time,” he said.

According to Finlayson, there is a huge need for this type of training, especially because many communities don’t allow the burning of buildings for training purposes.

“We can’t burn anything at home,” he said.

The need was confirmed by both Hogencamp and Steve Montie, the chief of the Stuyvesant Fire Company.

“You get to go in and get an understanding of what happens,” said Hogencamp, adding it was especially good for some of the younger firefighters who may have never been in this type of situation. “It’s great to get live fire training.”

“It’s absolutely beneficial,” said Montie. “It teaches you the signs of flashover, so you can get out.”

This is the third time the Hot Box has been in the area. Last May, the first time they came here, the training was held at the Niverville Fire station.

Before getting into the Hot Box there was a 45 minute lecture that covered safety and signs of flashover, among other areas.

Finlayson told those present to “watch the flame, watch the smoke...Learn and see what it feels like...knowledge is the lightest tool you can carry.”

“You’re going to experience 1,000 degrees of heat today,” he told us. While inside I looked over at a thermal camera held by one of the firefighters. It registered at 1,084 degrees.

“It’s a controlled atmosphere,”  said Finlayson, “It’s a Disney Ride.”

I thought about that while sitting in the Hot Box and concluded that Disney is less dangerous. You probably wouldn't risk death by standing up on “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” and you don’t have to wear a breathing apparatus on “It’s a Small World,” plus there’s singing.

What I did take away from my 15 minutes in the hottest place I have been and ever hope to be is a new appreciation for what our firefighters go through, especially here, where they’re all volunteers and do it strictly because they care about their communities.