SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -
Smoke billowing from a high rise building in downtown Shreveport on Saturday was not a real fire, but just a drill. The Shreveport Fire Department conducted a simulation of a fire located inside of the Slattery Building.
"We have multiple callers reporting smoke coming from a building," the dispatcher on Saturday reported. The dispatch call, along with the smoke were all a part of the elaborate drill.
"When we weigh the risk versus the benefit, we think that maybe an hour or so of interruption is certainly worth the hour or so when we have to do this," says Training Chief Louis Johnson.
Johnson points out that every firefighter who may encounter a fire in a high rise building is participating in this drill. The drill trains them how to find and fight a blaze that is located on a higher level of the building.
"You can never be all the way prepared because you never know what you may encounter," says Shreveport Firefighter Arthur Douglas.
Crews must work through intense smoke and heat, while carrying an extra 60 lbs. of equipment.
"You have to use your training," says Douglas.
All Shreveport Firefighters are required to go through similar trainings every year.
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