An Ames firefighter asks how to hold his arms as another firefighter, Kelly Wilson, wraps rope around them.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging,” Wilson said. “Well, I will, but…”

Inside the house on 621 5th Street, Wilson is spending his day off assisting in Ames Fire Department training exercises. In this rescue maneuver, one of many being taught, a rope is lowered down through a hole in the ceiling and tied to a firefighter in full field gear. The firefighter, sometimes made to simulate unconsciousness, is then hoisted by his comrades up through the hole. The gear the firefighter wears, from helmet to tank, adds an extra 80 pounds to his or her total weight, and the lift is not done without some significant effort.

The exercise is meant to simulate ways to get a fallen firefighter out of a hole. When fire weakens a structure to the point where the floors easily give way underneath a firefighter, the Ames fire department can hopefully bring them out alive using the technique.

But Ames Fire Department Lt. Seth Twedt, addressing the group of nearly 20 firefighters in front of the house before the exercises begin, describes the exercise as a “cowboy” alternative, and one only to be used if conventional methods of retrieval are impossible and if time is no longer a luxury.

“If there was a real fire, we’d rather just send someone in on the first floor to get them,” Wilson said of the exercise.

There will be a fire in the house, though. Purchased by the city of Ames, the two-story structure was designated to serve as a training ground for the city’s firefighters. Wednesday’s exercises are retrieval-oriented, but soon controlled fires will be set inside the house to allow firefighters to practice their skills.

After the department finishes with training exercises, it will burn the house to the ground from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. In case of high winds, the final burning will take place the next day.

The training is vital to the firefighters, said Ames Fire Department Captain Scott Siberski. In the field, there’s often more to consider than simply spraying water on a burning structure.

“There’s a lot more to that, as far as understanding how the fire behaves based on building construction, outside conditions and furnishings,” he said.

Inside the house, the rapid intervention techniques continue. A second group, led by Twedt, practices what are called “Denver Drills,” named for the city where a firefighter, trapped in a tiny clerical room with only a small window leading out, died.

“His buddy could reach in and touch him, but couldn’t get him out,” Twedt said.

The exercise involves getting a firefighter out of a small chamber through a smaller window, and although the men in Twedt’s group have a method of extraction to practice, much of the maneuver is brute force. They emerge from the exercise red-faced and sweating.

“It’s a little technique, but mostly it’s all muscle work,” Twedt said.

Later, both teams are on the second floor. On one side of the house, Twedt leads his group in an exercise involving bringing unconscious victims, both firefighter and civilian, down a ladder. On the other side, Wilson’s group doesn’t have the benefit of the ladder.

“This is for one of those situations where it’s way too hot inside and you want to get out now,” said Wilson as he waits for another firefighter to slide down the rope to the ground. Both groups use safety ropes, but are also well aware that there won’t be any such comforts next time.

Karen Tapper, part of the first shift Engine 1 team, executes the maneuver, and once on the ground quickly sheds her tank and helmet and sits in the grass.

“[Training of this kind] is very useful. Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it, though. It’s all just a last-ditch effort to save yourself. You don’t want to use it unless you have to.”