CINCINNATI — It's not every day that a fire department and a brewery find themselves in a professional partnership. The Cincinnati Fire Department (CFD) and Sam Adams are collaborating to help firefighters better prepare for responding to emergencies.
The newest CFD recruits spent their Friday morning training for emergency situations. That included using long-line fire hoses and learning how to respond to mayday calls.
"Nothing prepares you like the real-world scenario, and this is real-world scenario for them," said George Haralamos, the district's chief of training.
That real-world feel is largely because of the new building where they train.
The building sits off Findlay Street in the West End near the Sam Adams Taproom off Central Parkway. It was recently bought by Sam Adams' parent company, the Boston Beer Company.
Check out how the CFD is working to improve their emergency response in the video below:
Bill Soehnlen, the plant operations manager for Sam Adams, said their company soon realized the old, vacant building was a perfect fit for fire training.
"That's truly the situation they may have to put themselves in, going into an older building," Soehnlen said.
Firefighters agree that the building is a good fit for their training.
"This is what you might encounter in the field as opposed to, like, this is what we created for you to encounter," Soehnlen said.
Some of the new recruits, like Jiair Thomas, are used to tough conditioning.
Thomas was a former wide receiver at the University of Cincinnati. He said, until recently, he didn't think this would be a career he would pursue.
"Probably around my Junior year when I realized what I wanted to do in the real world," Thomas said.
Thomas is one of the 50 new recruits in the department. We asked Thomas if the training was like what he expected.
"It's way more than you would expect," Thomas said. "Our trainers are great, put us in real-life situations."
The goal is simple: to make sure the newest Cincinnati firefighters are ready to go.
"They put their lives on the line for us, it's the least we can do," said Soehnlen.
