LA MIRADA, CALIF. — Firefighters rarely have an opportunity to practice crucial field tactics until a fire actually occurs. This week, the Los Angeles Fire Department will be able to practice a number of vital strategies needed to be safe and effective in their operations due to the planned demolition of a number of buildings at Biola University.


The training, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on January 14 and 15, will be used for the fire department to advance their skills and prepare personnel for emergency response mitigation, whom seldom have an opportunity to perform their duties and take the time to practice these valuable skill sets.


Multiple companies (Fire Equipment, Apparatus and personnel) will arrive to a simulated building fire involving the two structures Biola is donating. Because the buildings are being demolished, the fire department can utilize tactics that would otherwise be too destructive to practice, therefore providing invaluable practice and experience to the fire department teams.  The simulated exercises will also help to improve communications and coordination within each crew and between all companies.


The training will include:

  • Simulated building fire with a coordinated fire attack
  • Vertical ventilation — a hole is cut in the roof of a building to let out hot gasses, allowing for improve life safety of entrapped persons; quicker and more effective fire attack; and, reduced property damage by reducing smoke and lessening water usage
  • Forcible entry
  • Search and rescue
  • Firefighter survival
  • Hose line deployment
  • RIC — rapid intervention crew deployment. This operation is used to save the life of a downed firefighter

The training will occur in two buildings on Biola’s campus in La Mirada, Calif. set to be demolished in preparation for the construction of Biola’s new Center for Science, Technology and Health. Biola offered the structures to the fire department to use in training that requires destruction of property.


For more information and press access, contact Jenna Loumagne, media relations specialist, at (562) 777-4061 or jenna.loumagne@biola.edu.