NEW ORLEANS -- Forget the shoes. On a humid and sunny Saturday morning, Mayor Latoya Cantrell walked a mile in the boots of firefighters.
Welcome to Fire OPS 101. It's a training exercise and display organized by the New Orleans Firefighters Association. Its purpose is to educate city leaders on the demands, dangers and dedication in a firefighter's life. We joined her.
"This one is going to protect your ears," said a firefighter as he helped the mayor adjust the mask that will protect her face and neck from heat and burning material.
As mayor of the so called "city of yes", Cantrell couldn't necessarily say no when the fire department invited her to put on 70 pounds of gear and enter a fire scenario.
"You know I'm claustrophobic," the mayor told us as we finalized adjustments to our equipment.
Along with several members of the New Orleans city council, media and civic groups, we were about to toss out our preconceived notions of fire response. Unlike Hollywood, no one is going to be running into a burning building. We'd be crawling in, to avoid the toxic smoke that would be greeting us once we entered the building where a controlled fire awaited us.
"I want to have a better understanding of what city employees go through, in particular, our first responders and the fire department are at the forefront of that," Mayor Cantrell said.
The call of a structure fire comes in over the two-way radio. The exercise begins. I pick up the water line. The mayor follows us in.
"Keep hugging that left wall," shouted Captain Andy Monteverde, one of our guides.
Smoke fills the inside of the building. It's dark and chaotic. The only constant sound is the alert from our tanks reminding us to keep our breathing stable.
As we try to find our way to the fire, flames roll over above us. In struggling to carry the water line, staying on my knees and navigating the hall, I lose track of the mayor behind me. Eventually we make our way to one fire and knock it down.
We only spend two to three minutes in that scenario, but by the time we left the building we were exhausted and drenched in sweat. Firefighters are quick to point that they often stay on scenes for hours. Unlike what we experienced, firefighters often have various unknown elements to deal with when they enter a fire situation.
"It's way worse than this. It's hotter. This was controlled. What we go into is not controlled. We don't know what to expect, so anything can happen at any given time," Lionel Davis said.
Lionel Davis loves smoking cigars, country music and his hometown of New Orleans. Outside of the country of music, he in many ways represents the typical firefighter, who works at an average of 56 hours a week, but still works a second job. Davis has a third job. Like many city positions, pay is an issue.
"I don't think it's (pay) competitive enough, where it should be. So, it forces us to get second and third jobs, or become some type of entrepreneur, just to make sure we have enough to cover at home, a lot of us have families, wives, kids." said Davis.
According to the New Orleans Firefighters Association, the last pay raise for the NOFD was ten years ago. Within that decade, the total number of its employees dropped 22 percent while its emergency call volume exploded by 99 percent. A hiring freeze during the previous administration further crippled a department that struggled to maintain and grow its ranks.
With new leadership within the firefighter union and a new administration, many firefighters sense an opportunity to work with the city council and mayor, who ultimately control budgets and priorities for first responders. As in many work places, sometimes the only way to make the bosses understand what you go through is to walk them through your job. It's the undercurrent of Fire OPS 101.
"I have a much stronger appreciation for what the fire department does, and the men and women who really put their lives on the line," said Mayor Cantrell following the exercise.
Firefighters hope that sentiment resonates when the department requests help for pay, manpower and equipment in the future.
"We can't expect them to save lives if they're not equipped, not only with the equipment but with the training that's necessary and we have some notch fire fighter men and women," Mayor Cantrell said.
"It's not for the pay, it's for we like to serve the community, go out and help where we can, if we can. That's what it's about," Lionel Davis said.
It's fair to ask if this is a public relations campaign. Firefighters would tell you it is a public campaign. One revolving around the safety of your home, and your city.