The situation is extreme: a fire with several outbreaks has started on the third floor of La Candelaria car park and several people are trapped. There is no visibility and the response time is crucial to ensure that there are no fatalities. Fortunately, this is not a real event, but just a practical exercise by the Mijas fire brigade in order to sharpen their skills to deal with emergencies. 

When there is a fire or an accident, we rely on the security forces. But what do firefighters do when they are not on duty? Well, they train their skills for when those emergencies arrive. Yesterday we joined a team from the Mijas Fire Brigade in a drill carried out in La Candelaria car park. As explained by the chief firefighter of Mijas Fire and Rescue Service, Antonio Villalba, "the aim of this drill is to perform the necessary deployment in case of a real fire in a garage. It was carried out on the -3 level, as it was the lowest one. This floor was filled with technical smoke to search for a person and at the same time extinguish a vehicle".

Dressed in equipment weighing an average of 30 kilos, twelve firefighters, coordinated by two commanders, carried out this drill which included the rescue of a colleague whose oxygen ran out in the middle of the fire and in a zero visibility environment for which they trained with blind people.

Villalba explained that, "orientation in smoky environments is a practice they have already carried out in previous courses, with instructors from the ONCE, because, as he said, usually in fires you can't see anything", and added that, "in addition to orientation, in these situations we use instruments such as thermal vision cameras, or more rudimentary elements such as guide ropes". 

Firefighters' training is essential to provide them with the necessary tools to intervene in the most effective way in case of any emergency. A physical training that adds to the psychological one, because in addition to being in good physical shape, firefighters must be cold-blooded in order to control their nerves and ensure that all their operations have a happy ending.

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