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2020 Annual Report • Fire Department • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />25 | Page <br /> <br />Our next few drills were rescheduled, or topics were shifted due to the <br />prevalence of Covid-19. There were safety protocols that made hands-on <br />training difficult. Much of our hands-on training normally takes place <br />in close quarters with our personnel working as a team. While hands-on <br />training is very beneficial, we have several training topics that lend <br />themselves to a classroom type setting and we were able to shift gears to <br />virtual training. <br />Our virtual trainings included information on changes to our responses <br />to possible Covid-19 patients, a communications review, and our <br />pumping classroom presentation. Other online presentations were from NIST (National <br />Institute of Standards and Technology) which included science based research on how modern <br />fires behave within structures. These studies show that changes in firefighting tactics can <br />benefit the fire service and the science behind these changes. <br />We were able to have outdoor drills over the summer due to the warmer weather, which <br />allowed for proper social distancing. Our drills consisted of practicing with and deploying <br />hose-lays in repetition to create the muscle memory. These hose-lays help us to deploy our <br />lines more effectively and efficiently. We were able to practice several scenarios, including <br />practicing in a multistory building, deploying hose in areas effected by road construction, and <br />deploying hose in a single-family residence. <br />One of our more popular drills this last year was a scavenger <br />hunt throughout the city, this drill required knowledge of our <br />vehicles, addresses throughout the city, and required <br />performing a firefighting skill or action at each location. The <br />resulted in a lot of fun and crews were asked to provide <br />photographic proof the performed the action. <br /> Our next few drills involved practicing techniques to <br />increase the amount of time our crews can work in a dangerous <br />environment. During these drills, our members were asked to <br />practice one of a few breathing techniques that, when used, can extend the time the air in our <br />Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) tanks will last. There were also survival-breathing <br />techniques firefighters can use in the scenario where they become trapped and are running low <br />on air. <br />A photo from our scavenger hunt <br />Triage Area