Tulsa Fire Cadets Test Training With Live-Fire Drills

Tulsa Fire cadets are putting their training to the test this week with live-fire drills.

The drills took place at the Owasso Training Center where cadets got to get out of the classroom and practice their skills in a whole new environment. Fifty-five cadets spent the day practicing their search and rescue techniques, while also learning how to work as a team.

They are all part of Tulsa Fire’s largest class to date.

“This week we are actually in different groups, so we’re getting able to work with different people that we are not normally grouped up with, so it’s kind of nice to get that aspect,” said Katarina Perez, one of the Tulsa Fire cadets.

Tulsa Fire Chief of Training Barrett Cramer says using the Owasso Training Facility forces the cadets to learn to adapt to the different types of buildings they will see on the job.

“They are not laid out the same, a lot of it is muscle memory, and you kind of understand how it’s laid out, well these give us a whole different environment, which is, really, the real-world aspect of it,” said Cramer.

The cadets practiced going into structures, finding victims, and then bringing those victims out so they can begin CPR.

“We’re bringing the victims out, we’re having them transition from structural gear to coming out and actually working patients, which is what you would be doing in the real world,” said Cramer.

Tulsa Fire Cadet Katarina Perez says she is thankful for the training she and her fellow cadets have gone through, and for just how much it pushed them out of their comfort zones.

“The academy, it’s not only physically demanding, but mentally, it teaches you, you think you are at your limit, and they push you right past it so you know when you are out there you can go beyond what you think you can,” said Perez.

The cadets will continue going through various training scenarios for the rest of this week.