COLORADO SPRINGS — With summer on the way, Colorado Springs firefighters are gearing up for another wildland fire season.
Friday 27 training recruits from the current fire academy and five firefighters from the previous academy were out doing some hands-on training.
The annual training event teaches different skills used to fight wildland fires.
While they all spend hours in the classroom studying the science of fire fighting, Friday's event gives them real-world experience.
"Nothing replaces the hands-on and actually getting their hands on a pump. How do you troubleshoot that pump if it doesn't start, or what happens if a section of hose breaks? All of those different things we feel like they need the ability to touch it, to see it, to do it and then to do it more than once," said Lt. Jason McFerran from CSFD Station 4.
The department says that every fire fighter in the city needs these skills because the city is spread out with areas all across town that are considered a part of the Wildland Urban Interface.
