Camden Fire Department - The Fires of the Summer of 2011 - Confined Space Training Aboard the USS New Jersey

Camden Fire Department
The Fires of the Summer of 2011
September 12, 2011
Confined Space Training Aboard the USS New Jersey

Each and every time the call comes to the Camden Fire Department, it's men and women face what may be potentially life-threatening circumstances. Standards and practices to ensure the safety of the public and first responders have been developed over the past 160-odd years, and while many at City Hall and elsewhere in State and County government may believe corners can be cut, far too many examples.. fatalities and injuries... have proven that is a falsehood. Firefighting and rescue is a dangerous business... roughly 70% of all deaths occurring in rescue operations are those of rescuers, not of rescuees.

As part of ongoing training, Camden Fire Department personnel were given training in confined space rescue operations over the course of several days in September of 2011, first at Liberty Station on Broadway, followed by sessions on the battleship USS New Jersey BB-62, which is docked along the Camden waterfront. I was privileged to be allowed to monitor both parts of the course given. On September 12 I accompanied Battalion Chief Donald Johnson and Captains Frank Sandrock and David Dilks, who were conducting the class, aboard the USS New Jersey. Two groups of Camden firefighters took the training. The morning group consisted of Firefighters Brian Beach, David Diaz, Orland Nunez, and Lacy Phelps. The afternoon session attended by Captain Manny Martinez and Firefighters Efi Mercado, Gamalier Rivera, Frank Thompson, and Ken White.

I have captioned some of the photos and attempted to describe what was occurring, and may well have either got it wrong or used improper terminology. If any interested party would like to assist, please e-mail me.

Phil Cohen
September 14, 2011

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Orlando Nunez - Lacy Phelps - Brian Beach - David Diaz

Brian Beach - David Diaz - Frank Sandrock - David Dilks

The training was held in Gun Turret 2, seven decks below the main deck.
The further down one goes, the steeper the stairs are.

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Here, below deck 7, there are no stairs. You climb or are lowered down.
In the exercise, a victim must be recovered and extricated from this confined space.

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Here is where things got a lot more complicated, for me, that is. As it had already been determined that it was safe, I got permission to go into the confined space from Captain Sandrock. It is pitch black in this area, all lighting coming from equipment the firefighters brought down or the flash in my camera, leaving me with a dilemma of how to do two things- one, record what was going on with a degree of detail that you who are reading this can appreciate and learn from; and two, convey some sense of how tight and how dark it was in this space. You will see a few pictures below where I changed different settings on the camera to accomplish the second objective. I am NOT a professional photographer and this was the first time this problem has come my way, so I so hope my solution works for you!

Phil Cohen
September 14, 2011


I went in first, and it was DARK. Orlando Nunez was the first firefighter in.

Going throught that hole was a learning process...a very small hole and a somewhat overly large me. This is a problem that rescue personnel face, as they are going in with air tanks and all sorts of other equipment strapped on. One has to be very careful not to get caught on something going while going about the business at hand.

Orlando Nunez going into another compartment, where he finds the victim.

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Firefighter Lacy Phelps was second in.

Captain David Dilks came through to observe. Lacy Phelps is at the hole, as the patiet is about to be passed through. He will have to be passed back through the hole on the left, then brought up a ladder.

Brian Beach. He and David Diaz were monitoring air and riggings.

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At this point I went back through the hole. Lacy Phelps followed me, then Orlando Nunez passed the patient through to him. Once through, the patient was attached to the rigging system, and brought above.

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	Pictured below is Gun Turret 2, where the training took place, seven floors below the main deck. On cannot really grasp how BIG the battleship USS New Jersey is without actually going to see it, but to give you an idea, at the left, you see one of the New Jersey's staff talking to Camden Fire Department member Orlando Nunez, a Navy veteran. Below is the photograph from which the picture at left was cropped from, you can see the two men on the main deck.