Greenville Fire Rescue conducts high rise training

A local fire department is preparing to fight fires and save lives up to 10 stories in the air.

Greenville Fire and Rescue crews were on the campus of ECU Friday conducting ladder truck drills.

The training helps firefighters learn to navigate tight spaces to safely set up trucks, and quickly deploy aerial ladders towards windows on high-rise buildings.

Crews trained at the West End dorms on campus, and had to successfully position ladders at targeted windows and then climb up to 10 stories to reach those targets.

Lieutenant Stephen West says the city is seeing continued growth, and many of the new buildings are growling upwards. “Greenville is growing up, and you can see that with all the new construction that’s going on down around downtown area as well as some of the parts on the outskirts. So it’s important for us to train on that so we’re prepared to deal with it.“

The city has five aerial ladder trucks to use in high-rise emergencies.