RCFD to Conduct Drills at Rehabilitation Institute

Building is due to be demolished later this month 

Rapid City, S.D. – This week, Rapid City Firefighters will conduct drills and training at the Rehabilitation Institute building located at 2908 5^th Street in Rapid City. The building is due to be demolished later this month as part of an ongoing construction project at the hospital. The Rapid City Fire Department Training Section anticipates training and drill activities to take place at various times during day and evening on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week.

Thanks to the generosity of Regional Health, the RCFD will have the opportunity to train and conduct a number of scenario based drills in a realistic environment. Training and drills will focus on high-rise operations, aerial operations, forcible entry and search patterns in large occupancies. Some of the drills will be conducted in low visibility conditions with smoke generated by a smoke machine.

Training and drills are important to maintaining and enhancing firefighter skills. In October of 2018, Rapid City Firefighters trained and performed drills on a building set for demolition in the 700 block of West Street. During that training, one of the skills taught to firefighters was a basement window rescue technique in which a victim could be evacuated if their primary egress were to become compromised. That training was put to use only two weeks later as firefighters rescued an individual from his basement apartment window during a fire on Cherry Avenue in Rapid City utilizing techniques taught on West Street.

During the training and drills, a large number of firefighters dressed in structural firefighting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and large fire apparatus will be clearly visible. Motorists, Regional Health employees and members of the public in the area of the Rehabilitation Institute should not be alarmed.

For questions or comment related to this advisory, please contact Lt. Jim Bussell, Public information Officer for the Rapid City Fire Department, at 605-394-4180.

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