MATTAPOISETT– A small fire bellowed out from the corner of a small closed compound, hay and wood being licked away by the flames. But this was no emergency. It was a controlled fire made by the Mattapoisett Fire Department in what is called a fire training simulator for the "Come and Experience Being a Firefighter" event Saturday.

The event gave people with no prior firefighting experience the chance to dress in full fire gear, don oxygen masks and tank, and enter inside, with firefighters watching their every move giving guidance. 

According to firefighter Rebecca Smith, this is the department’s first year holding such an event. Before the simulation started, Smith commented how experimental this was. “It’ll be a trial by fire — no pun intended.” Smith joked. 

People learned how to put on a fire suit and use an oxygen mask. Every detail they learned was critical for entering the firefighting simulator. Between 14 and 15 firefighters were there to assist with teaching the class attendees and were divided into rotating groups at different stations.

One station taught how to put on the coat, hood, gloves, boots, suspenders and helmet. The other station taught them how to not only fit themselves with an oxygen mask and breathing apparatus, but to properly use it.

Each piece of gear is critical to a firefighter’s survival, so before each person enters the simulator firefighters have to give them 3 to 4 safety checks to ensure they will work properly. Afterwards they get a run through on what they will be expecting in the fire training simulator while firefighters set it up and fill the barrel with hay and wood and prepare to light it on fire and set up the equipment to put it out.

According to firefighter Brian Connelly, the fire suits are designed to keep it an internal temperature of no more than 90 degrees and are insulated-no sweat can escape because of the high risk of steam burns. Hair must be tucked into the helmet and hood with no fly-aways, otherwise it would catch fire.

The entire suit is 100 percent flame proof and weighs more than 85 pounds with the extra equipment. The breathing apparatus has enough oxygen for 30 minutes and usually that is enough time to get in and out of the building. Firefighters often have to regulate their breathing.

If a firefighter stops moving for more than thirty seconds, the SCBA sets off an alarm to alert other surrounding firefighter on the chance they are down or unable to move. The alarm stops beeping once the firefighter starts moving.

Mattapoisett Fire Chief Andrew Murray said the event was to give people an idea of what a firefighter does on a regular basis and to recruit new firefighters.

“Every year we try to think of new ways to recruit and retain new on-call firefighters and figure out how to engage the public, bring them in and tell them what we do and how we operate,” said Murray. 

One of the people who attended the event was sixth grade Hammondtown School teacher Laura Mirabito, who came for the experience. “It’s very exciting,” said Mirabito, “it’s very enlightening to what these men and women do everyday.” 

Another person attending the event was 22-year-old newly hired firefighter Kevin Cahill. Cahill said this was the first time he was inside a burning building, even if it was a controlled fire. “It was a great experience and I hope they do it again next year and I hope more people hear about it and other towns do it more often as well.” said Cahill.

Murray said the fire department aims to do this event again sometime in the summer and make it either annual or semi-annual.