At their instructor's signal, firefighters rushed forward, flung open their packs, stepped backwards into giant bags and laid face down, bags up.

The drill could save lives if flames from a wildfire spread too quickly and the men are trapped.

Survival and safety is the main goal for firefighters at the Alabama Wildland Fire Academy, being held at McClellan this week.

Today, the firefighters in training will light a controlled burn in the Choccolocco Wildlife Management Area and learn about battling blazes first-hand.

The 285 firefighters in the academy will use dozers and hand tools to dig fire lines, learn to coordinate crews to manage a large-scale fire and safety skills. One class of men practiced getting into their emergency fire shelters Wednesday afternoon.

Nicholas Poppe of the U.S. Forest Service grades a firefighter's deployment of a shelter. Photo: Kevin Qualls/The Anniston Star

Cathy Cline, the coordination center manager for the U.S. Forest Service said the trainees should learn equal parts technical skills and teamwork.

"You can have all the tech skills, but if you can't work together as a team it doesn't do any good," she said Wednesday. "It takes more than one person to fight a fire."

Firefighters came from as far away as Wyoming to attend the class, which started Friday and runs through Sunday.

Steven Jones of Piedmont had the shortest drive of anyone. He said the classes emphasized the importance of working together.

"One bad link in your communication puts a lot of people at risk," he said

4/21/2008