[poconopundit]

It's an interesting case, beebuster.

I was a naval shipboard officer 1974 to 1983 stationed in the Pacific.

By that time, we had live firefighting on the naval base in San Diego and everybody had to go through a one day course.

Something I never forgot is the intense heat generated by a large fire. The technique used in my training was to have two fire hoses, each manned by a few sailors. One hose was for fighting the fire, and the second hose provided a protective shield of water for sailors fighting the fire.

To demonstrate the importance of the spray, for a moment the instructors would drop the protective spray to the ground at which point you immediately felt the intense heat on your face. Wow. The heat was so strong, your body reflexively recoiled back because you couldn't stand it.

Every school kid should go through such training. It gives you an appreciation for the bravery of real firefighters and the training itself is a great lesson in team building.

[NonValueAdded]

The heat was so strong, your body reflexively recoiled back because you couldn't stand it.

Which would answer the question as to why so many jumped out the windows of the twin towers.

[wbarmy]

I was in Great Lakes in 1977. We had the shipboard fire training and it was literally like descending into hell.

When I did gas mask training for the US Army, it was a walk in the park. The instructors were expecting me to be whining about the tear gas. I had already been through hell, the tear gas was seasoning, nothing more.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I was a Sonar Tech from 1986-1992 havung gine through boot camp in San Diego from August- mid October 1986.

As I remember the training it was unshielded electical wiring in the zoomie rocket that caught stray electrical emissions from another source at a near identical frequency as the launch activation signal.....and....the missiles were in whatever they called the mode when they are “live.”

I went through the 1 day live firefighting training that you me tion and remember it exactly as you do. The heat was amazingly powerful. Without that 2nd set of firefighters using the wand to beat back the heat by putting a cone of water over the crews it makes it nearly impossible to successfully fight a fuel oil/jet fuel buring fire.

[60Gunner]

Way back in the fall of 1986, as a shiny new Merchant Seaman, I had the opportunity to go through the Marine Firefighter and Damage Control School on Treasure Island in San Francisco. It was a real eye-opener. Fighting fires on deck was one thing. Below decks, in an engine room without any power... yeesh. That was scary to contemplate.

It was damn good training and I'm glad to have gone through it.

[rlmorel]

I never had to fight a real fire (thank goodness) but I thought the training I got at Great Lakes was pretty good training...it could be my faulty memory, but I recall them filling a compartment in a concrete building (with no windows) with burning mattresses and other junk, and we manned hoses and went in to put it out.

I could be conflating it with some other training, but I don’t think they would have people going into a simulated burning compartment like that nowadays and breathing in all that smoke...

[Cen-Tejas]

............I remember going through a fire fighting school in San Diego back in 1967.

It must have been weeks before the Forrestal Fire because it was not a real memorable experience and only lasted several hours.

Very rudimentary.