Southern N.B. firefighters gather in Riverview for specialized training

The scenario is simple, yet somewhat common.

There’s been a collision involving a bus and people are trapped on board. First responders must act fast, but smart.

“It’s not something you do everyday,” says Daniel Dupuis, a training representative with the Southeast Firefighters Association.

“We might never do it in our lives, but at least we know how to do it. Lately we’ve seen quite a few school bus accidents, so it’s kind of, it kind of brings it out.”

More than 50 firefighters from across southeastern New Brunswick gathered in Riverview Saturday for hands-on training in extrication, stabilization and triage skills.

“You just got to keep training and keep the knowledge going through your head. Train like you fight, fight like you train,” says Adam Perry a volunteer firefighter in Salisbury.

The training course is offered yearly, and this year, a decision was made to focus on bus collisions following the Humbodt tragedy in Saskatchewan.

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“We don’t want to see another tragedy like Humboldt, but we also want to be prepared to untangle victims that could be entrapped in wreckage like Humbodlt,” explains firefighter Melissa Saucier, who works out of St. Paul.

The idea behind this type of training is to make the situation as real as possible so that firefighters are fully prepared.

And it wasn’t just the firefighters who learned a thing or two. The victims, played by sea cadets in Riverview, were also soaking up the knowledge.

“Anything can go wrong and things like this can happen and it’s good to know how to prevent it,” says Emily Meneer, a volunteer and sea cadet in Riverview.

It’s hoped that these firefighters will share their new found skills with their departments as interest in the course was overwhelming.