The Oak Creek Fire Department has a new member named HOSE-A.
Made out of old rubber fire hose, HOSE-A, named in part by the community, is a training dummy firefighters can use during drills for various scenarios.
Firefighter Aaron Krukowski said many departments donate old fire hose to area zoos where it’s used to weave chairs and beds for animals or just hung in monkey exhibits. While this is the first hose mannequin in Oak Creek, the idea isn’t isn't original and came from a fire department in Arizona.
“I actually got the idea from a Tucson fire department YouTube channel,” said Jeremy Fontanez, a firefighter in Oak Creek. “From there we tweaked a couple things to make it our own for our own training needs.” " About 300 feet of rubber fire hose was utilized to make HOSE-A. "It just starts out as a huge mess," Fontanez said.