PHOTOS: Multiple departments participated in a joint firefighter down training in the Meat Camp fire district.
Meat Camp Volunteer Fire Department, Todd Volunteer Fire Department and Watauga County Rescue Squad worked together on Monday, March 20, to train on best practices if a firefighter goes into cardiac arrest inside a burning building.
“This is firefighter down CPR training, and it is for firefighters on the scene that go into sudden cardiac arrest,” said paramedic and WCRS training officer Gary Harmon. “We understand the cardiac arrest part. What we try to focus on is how do we get them out of their turnout gear. That is actually the main focus of what we’re doing here, and it’s very important because we do standbys for structure fires.” During the training, firefighters went into a smoke-filled house to rescue a downed firefighter and drag them out to safety.