As the weather warms up, the threat of fire increases. Over the weekend in Santa Rosa, firefighters from around the state gathered for an annual training event providing hands-on experience. 

They call it 'fire science' for a reason, and the technology that's used to save lives isn't just for the public's benefit. It's also for the firefighters themselves.

The annual Bay Area Fire Conference alternates between the East and North Bay, and this year, Santa Rosa hosted the event that drew more than 500 professionals from around the state and nation.  

It was a chance for firefighters to brush up on their practical skills, like the proper way to break into a steel door to save someone on the other side.

"Fire department! Victim! Victim! Victim," shouted a firefighter as he and his partner dragged another student through the now-open door.  

The rescue scenarios are taken seriously because a life-and-death situation is possible on any given day.

"We talk about firefighters being professionals," said Joe Schuller, vice president of the training company, Fire Nuggets. "Being like professional athletes, they practice every day. And so, we can't ever be too good at our job. Our job presents a lot of challenges."

But to help in those challenges is an array of technologies that have evolved over the years.  

One of them is the thermal imaging camera, or TIC. It's a handheld device that produces a black and white picture from heat being radiated.  

At the training, a fire was started inside a cluster of shipping containers. Normally, the smoke would make vision impossible, but the TIC cut right through it to produce a clear picture of what was happening for the firefighters inside.

"With these technologies, it only makes us better, right?" said Santa Rosa Fire Captain Michael Musgrove. "So, when you're in an environment like this where there's smoke and fire and you can't see anything, with that thermal imager, you not only can see what's going on, you can actually see the energy moving through the building."

But equally important to the devices is knowing the right way to use them. That's what the hands-on drills were all about.

"We're scanning, and what did we talk about? We're scanning high or low first?" an instructor asked his students. "Low first. That's where we find victims. That's where the stuff that can come get us is. So, I'm scanning low first."

Finding victims is important, but so is not becoming one yourself.  

When one group of firefighters came back outside, the thermal imager showed how hot they had gotten. Their helmets and shoulders showed up yellow, registering a temperature of more than 300 degrees.  

Instructor Andy Starnes wanted his students to understand what they were actually dealing with.

"There's a point of learning. You burn to learn. Not burn them to learn," he said. "We're burning the building, we don't want to burn the student. The whole point is for them to avoid heat, not experience heat and pain."

He said the special heat-resistant uniforms they wear, which are another form of technology, can actually mask the true danger of the situation.

"Many firefighters were taught to base their whole paradigm of how bad the environment was through feeling. This gear censors that and basically deprives you of your senses. You don't feel pain until it's way too late," Starnes said. "So, just because you wear this, doesn't make you invincible. You have to have knowledge, awareness and education." 

Knowledge, awareness and education are what the 5th annual Bay Area Fire Conference was all about. And a chance to experience today, in a controlled environment, what they may face tomorrow, when just about anything could happen.

In:
• Santa Rosa