---

Wednesday, Aug. 4, the Center City and Shafer Fire Departments held a joint training drill that focused on rescuing a firefighter trapped during an emergency call. A specially modified semi trailer provided by Hennepin Technical College was filled with a jumble of concrete slabs, heavy timbers and broken sections of sheetrock walls simulating the inside of a collapsed building. The drill consisted of one or more firefighters being hidden in various places under the rubble in one end of the trailer and rescue teams trying to work their way to and retrieve the victims from the other end. The complete darkness, heat, noise, dust and extremely tight spaces the team members had to endure realistically simulated the physical and emotional stresses firefighters face in the event they must rescue one of their own.

Photos submitted by Karl Ruser, Firefighter, Center City Fire and Rescue

---