Firefighter Rescue- The Denver Drill

On September 28, 1992, a 3 alarm fire broke out in Denver, CO on the 1600 Block of South Broadway.

During the fire operations, 39-year-old Mark Langvardt (16 Year Veteran), of Truck Co 16, became separated from his crew.

Due to collapse, intense heat and heavy smoke trapped Mark inside a storage room.

Inside this storage room there were heavy cabinets and equipment leaving an aisle way of only 28 inches wide. A flashlight was seen and recognized as a distressed signal from outside of the structure.

Firefighters responded by throwing ladders to the window and removing the bars on the windows. The firefighters then attempted to rescue Mark.

What seemed like an easy rescue of pulling him out of the window and climbing down the ladder, was shockingly hard and virtually impossible.

This brother firefighter was right there, yet they were unable to pick him up and get him out of the window.

It sounds simple. Have you had the experience of doing the Denver drill live?

When I did it and others have too, it’s simply unbelievable to feel how hard it is to do. The reality is that most of us if not all of us would have failed to remove Mark from the structure that night.

Unfortunately, Mark perished that night serving others. He paid the ultimate price. May we always remember his service and sacrifice. Let us learn from this so it never happens again.

The great thing about this incident is that they went back and learned from the situation. Found out ways that if this was to happen again, they would be able to get that firefighter out and have a successful rescue.

Then it was shared throughout the country and was taught in the firefighter safety and survival classes. Have you taken them? I highly recommend it.

Here is the actual footage from that night back in 1992 and ways to solve for that type of rescue.

Although we watch these videos, it does not replace the need for doing it physically. It does look a lot easier to do than in reality. I promise you.

Here are the videos by DFDFire

Tell us your experience with the the Denver Drill.