“You’re doing good, Estes,” yells Capt. Dan Abrams. “Slow your breathing down.”
It’s April 19, a sunny spring day, but for the young San Mateo Firefighting Academy recruit blindly clambering through a cramped obstacle course inside Portola Valley’s former Town Hall, it’s downright sweltering.
A heavy air tank hissing on his back and his vision blocked by crumpled waxed paper in his facemask, future Daly City firefighter Mark Estes squeezes through narrow tunnels under the watchful eye of instructors. He navigates dead ends and spongy floors, frees himself from dangling wires and wriggles through tight spaces, finally bursting through a sheetrock wall to emerge into the daylight, his cool demeanor at odds with his flushed, sweaty face.
Outside, groups of recruits run ladders up the sides of buildings, sound out rooftops for dangerous weak spots and hustle heavy coils of hose down from fire engines.
Town Hall, abandoned due to earthquake danger, offers a rare opportunity for the group of 32 new hires to test their confidence and their skills in a simulated collapsed building, says Capt. Abrams of the Redwood City Fire Department. As co-director of the academy, he helped design the claustrophobia-inducing labyrinth of plywood that’s putting recruits through their paces.
The 31 men and one woman, including three recruits destined for Woodside, are nearing the end of the 14-week academy, soon to depart for various fire agencies in the county. The Woodside Fire Protection District usually hosts the wildland fire training, but this is the first time for the somewhat disingenuously named “confidence course.”
Besides weeding out anyone prone to panic attacks, the obstacle course teaches recruits how to manage their air supply and avoid getting lost inside burning or collapsed buildings. The academy experience builds camaraderie among firefighters who will surely work together again in a county known for its interagency cooperation, said Woodside Battalion Chief Rick Lombardo.
