BIG SKY — Firefighters from all around are crawling through tunnels, scaling ladders and maneuvering tight spaces this week as part of a 40-hour confined space rescue training.

The course is offered nationwide, but Ahmad, a firefighter from San Francisco, said Big Sky offers something unique. “It’s nice to be learning from a different fire department outside of my agency,” Ahmad said.

“The training is pretty standardized,” Ahmad said. “What’s unique is that you get different instructors that come here. So we have instructors from Nashville Fire, Chicago Fire, Phoenix Fire Department, so they all have something that they bring to the table.”

Training Captain Dave Parker showed MTN the human-sized tunnel structure where crews suit up before hauling “Randy” the mannequin through narrow pas

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