VIDEOS: Helena is home to one of only three airport firefighting training facilities in the western United States, drawing crews from across the country and Canada to learn life-saving skills.
The Rocky Mountain Emergency Services Training Center in Helena has been training airport firefighters since 1996. Firefighters from Pullman, Washington and Victoria, Canada recently came together at the facility to take advantage of its classroom instruction, fire trucks, and hands-on drills.
The center features a specialized aircraft fire trainer that lets firefighters experience what the inside of a burning plane may be like. For exterior fire training, crews use a large spill trainer that burns about 100 gallons of propane every 30 seconds, simulating how a real aircraft fire may behave.
Training Center Coordinator Mike Anderson said the facility stands out among its peers. “This is one of the best engineered and built training facilities in the U.S.,” Anderson said. Crews spent the day training to extinguish engine, wheel brake, and large spill fires, as well as interior fires, which place firefighters in a tight space with near-zero visibility.
