GREENSBORO, N.C. — With the cold weather, comes more fires. The National Fire Protection Association says house fires occur more in the winter than in any other season.
For firefighters, every second counts, and with several large house fires over the last month, how these crews train, matters.
Greensboro Fire Battalion Chief, Dan Jones, said that is why it's important to have the most realistic training possible.
"Seconds count, the fire grows at a certain rate, so everything we do, we're counting seconds as we respond so are trained and engineered to make us faster, so we can be there for the citizens when they need us," said Jones.
Time can change an outcome and it's why Greensboro Fire Department continues to work on its fire tactics.
Recruits took what they learned through their training and were put to the test in a live fire simulation after the department acquired some buildings.
Probationary firefighter and recruit, Ashanti Randleman, said there were a lot of different tactics they worked on.
"Going in, getting low, just seeing the fire, seeing smoke, being able to try to read your smoke and what direction, and trying to search for the fire and seeing where it was located," said Randleman.
Live fire training is something all firefighters go through, so they know how to respond and how to do it in the most efficient way.
The Greensboro Fire Department put firefighters in various situations, like battling intense fires and practicing search and rescue.
The crews also worked on ventilation and built communication and team skills.
They also worked on their hose skills.
Many recruits are in the accelerated class because they have prior knowledge about fighting fires.
Probationary firefighter and recruit, Noah Pruitt, said this training is some of the best he has seen.
"This training is phenomenal training, this is some of the best training I've ever gotten, it's hands down like the best for us at our level just because your bread and butter drills, its room contents fires, we're going in here to make a quick knock on the fire and you know we're coming out and you know discussing it with our instructors," said Pruitt.
These recruits said changing the outcome is why they joined.
"This is gonna help us out and that's the whole reason any of us are here, to make somebody's worst day a little bit better," said Pruitt.
"One point I serve my country and now I get to serve my community, it's amazing," said Randleman.
It's also the reason why crews continue to refine their skills.
When it comes to response times, there are requirements set for fire departments. Greensboro Fire Department said they actually do better than those time requirements on most fires, because of the number of fire stations throughout the city.