Cpt. Neal Smith, 46, died at about 6:30 p.m. at Baptist Beaumont Hospital. He was surrounded by family.
The fire chief said Smith was part of the event at their training grounds in Beaumont on Saturday. During the final part of the smoke diving drill, he passed out inside the smokehouse.
Smith’s body temperature got to 108 degrees and it caused internal organ damage.
Captain Smith’s hospitalization is not only a hardship on his family but on his fellow firefighters and the department as well. This evening, a chaplain is scheduled to offer to counsel for the firefighters. “Right now all we can do is give our support to the family, and our prayers to Neal,” said AVFD Chief Bill Bivens. A firefighter from Georgia was also hospitalized with heat-related illness during the same exercise.
According to www.smokedivers.com , the website for the course Captain Smith participated in, the annual smoke diver class is a “training course is designed to take an experienced firefighter and teach him/her practical advanced survival skills in full gear. The course is extremely challenging, intensely physical, and will take the student to his/her limit. Because of the difficulties some may experience, paramedics are on hand to monitor students before, during, and after each exercise.”
Captain Smith has been a volunteer firefighter for the department for five years and had been looking forward to the smoke divers training class and planned on participating in a triathlon in Galveston next week.
Neal received a Certificate of Appreciation for service during hurricane Ike and Fire Fighter of the Month on two separate occasions.
FROM THE SMOKE DIVERS WEBSITE
This is the ultimate in a fully packed out survival course. This course takes you to the edge mentally and
physically and then teaches you how to SURVIVE.
Functioning as an interior structural firefighter can present unknown challenges around every corner. A hazardous environment and potentially
hazardous situations can present a scenario that standards do not encompass. While there are no guarantees, this training course is designed to
take an experienced firefighter and teach him/her practical advanced survival skills in full gear with SCBA. The course is extremely challenging,
intensely physical, and will take the student to his/her limit. Because of the difficulties some may experience, paramedics are on hand to monitor
students before, during, and after each exercise. “Smoke Divers” training consists of some classroom, but mostly practical scenarios that will
culminate in a final exercise that requires the use of all skills taught in the course. Within the course curriculum are skill objectives that must be
accomplished by the student in order to graduate. The objectives can not be wavered.
A twenty-hour training program, “Smoke Divers” is taught over a single weekend at the Beaumont Emergency Services Training (BEST),
Complex, a division of Industrial Safety Training Council (ISTC). Course instruction will necessitate full days on both Saturday and Sunday.
Competency in personal protective equipment, SCBA, and fire ground practices are a prerequisite. This is neither a SCBA training course, nor a
search and rescue course. While the course is not designed to fail students, they will not be coddled. Any student thinking this is just another
training course will have difficulty.
All of the skills taught at “Smoke Divers” can be taken back by the students and taught to his/her own department personnel. While some
exercises may be difficult for a department to duplicate, modified versions can be set-up at little expense. Graduates can share their skills with
other department members and also work to prepare future students for “Smoke Divers
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