One of the main benefits of the Brockton Fire Academy is that recruits don’t have to drive about an hour each day to get to the program.
But they still get to visit the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, where the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy is held, on occasion and take advantage of what they have to offer.
That includes the four-story live fire training building.
It’s the closest recruits get to fighting a real fire and experiencing what it’s like to be in a building that’s on fire before they’re on the job and experience it in real time. The building, which is in Stow, includes a Draeger Maze, which is meant to help build confidence in firefighters’ abilities to maneuver inside buildings that are on fire. The 13 Brockton recruits were timed while going through the maze and had to try to make it through before their self-contained breathing apparatus ran out of oxygen.