Castlegar residents who visited Millennium Park on Tuesday evening (July 2) may have noticed members of the fire department on the scene — but the firefighters weren't responding to an emergency, they were training to prepare for one.
Sam Lattanzio, fire chief for the Castlegar Fire Department (CFD), explains that while the department usually trains on Monday nights, this week's training had to be put on hold due to Canada Day. With the new play structure in Millennium Park having recently opened, Lattanzio says the department wanted to prepare by running some training scenarios, or evolutions.
"We went down and did a couple of evolutions with what we might potentially be faced with if there was ever an incident, i.e. a medical event or a rescue of some kind."
Firefighters practiced using the department's 100-foot aerial platform to access the structure, as well as using the slide to evacuate a member of the department on a spine board.
"If there was an emergency or an incident there that needed us to attend, we do our due diligence," says Lattanzio. "We go in and do a bit of a pre-plan to see what we might be faced with."
The fire chief says firefighters also had some fun during the exercise, playing on the slide.