Greenwood Lake firefighters practice survival skills

New Hampton — Greenwood Lake firefighters spent last weekend at the Orange County Fire Training Center in New Hampton practicing how to bail out of a burning building when, as one firefighter said, “things get bad.” The training deployed a pre-rigged escape safety system that has firefighters attaching themselves to an anchor with a steel hook and then lowering themselves to safety. Firefighters bailed out of the window on the third floor of the training center building nine times: The first three in just their uniform; the next three wearing their self-contained breathing apparatus; and the last three with the breathing devices and with their faces covered to simulate being unable to see through smoke and flame. The exercise was conducted by First Due Training, an organization based in Brielle, N.J.