Nevada firefighters felt the heat Friday at the main training day of the 73rd Annual Nevada State Firefighters Association Training Conference held at the Fallon Convention Center and old Wal-Mart parking lot.

The morning began with a manipulative skills competition that involved various exercises, such as carrying a fire hose up three flights of stairs. Damien Gusmerotti, a firefighter with the Nevada Division of Forestry near Las Vegas, won first place for the second year in a row, with a score of 1 minute and 51 seconds.

"It was intense," said Erin Cochran, a volunteer firefighter with the Yerington Mason Valley Fire Protection District.

Even more intense was the West Wendover live-burn trailer. The trailer is a two-story prop with several possible entrances, a simulated kitchen, crashing ceiling, couch fire, upstairs fire and a roof that can be cut open.

"Firefighters love this thing," said Doyle Sutton, former State Fire Marshal from Sparks.

The prop is a controlled environment that can be shut off immediately. Sutton said it's the best way for new firefighters and experienced fire fighters to gain experience."

"It was a good experience," Gusmerotti said. "We get to work with people we haven't worked with before."

Flames also roared straight up into the sky from a simulated propane tank fire. Four men approached the flames with two hoses, smothering the fire until they were close enough for a fifth man to reach down and turn off the propane valve.

"It all has to do with getting us to work as teams," said Dennis Pinkerton, Training Manager with the Nevada State Fire Marshal division.

Related to the propane exercise was "Lessons learned - San Francisco Earthquake" taught by Stuart Cook, a retired NAS Fallon fire chief who experienced earthquakes while working in Japan, Alaska, and San Francisco. In San Francisco, he was in the 8.9 earthquake of Oct. 1989 known as Loma Prieta, which caused 27 fires within the city. He said most fires caused during an earthquake are due to propane leaks.

Cook showed the different ways firefighting can be handled, mostly by using examples from his time in Japan. For example, he said in Tokyo, fire extinguishers are on the street, and firefighters make use of robots, motorcycles, and mountain bikes.

"That, to me, is thinking outside the box," Cook said.

This course struck home for many Nevada firefighters because of recent drills and expectations of the big earthquake to come.

"Nevada is the third most active earthquake state," Cook said. "It's not if there is going to be an earthquake, it's when."

Cook's course focused on teaching firefighters how to think on their toes because earthquake emergencies are like no other.

"When the earthquake hits, everything goes wrong," Cook said.

Another course offered was "Extrication with L.N. Curtis," an extrication tools supplier. Extrication is when firefighters have to pry into a crashed car to remove people trapped inside.

"It's real hard to get cars to cut," Gusmerotti said.

But extraction is much more than just cutting metal.

"A lot of extrication is talking to the patient," Gusmerotti said. A person trapped in a crashed car, often injured, can be very frightened.

The course on Hybrids taught by Matt Stroud, president and instructor of MGS-Tech, also dealt with how to approach a crashed vehicle. Hybrid car sales zoomed up 65 percent, Stroud said, but many firefighters know little about how to handle them in an emergency and much of the information given out over the years has been incorrect.

"From a firefighter's standpoint, the most important and significant issue of today is knowing new technology," said Steve Carpenter, a retired battalion chief and Holmatro rescue tool dealer.

The firefighters stressed how impressed and thankful they were for all the people and groups like Banner Churchill County Hospital and AmeriGas who helped put the conference together.

"We're grateful to Fallon for putting it on," Gusmerotti said. "We're thankful for the instructors."