On January 15, 2026, the Englewood Area Fire Control District wrapped up its final live training at the old Advance Dental office. This marked the end of a six-part series they’ve been running for months.
Lately, the Englewood Fire Department (EFD) has zeroed in on one challenge: saving one of their own. As they put it on social media, “Hopefully, these are skills we never have to deploy, but it is important to learn and practice them, so we are prepared.”
On Tuesday, firefighters faced a controlled fire scenario, learning how to rescue a fallen colleague and make tough calls under pressure. The team trained inside a building rigged with wires and a fire simulator. No actual heat, but it felt like being trapped in a burning, collapsing structure.
The large-scale scenario finished up on Tuesday, and the last training shifts went through the exercise on Thursday. Crews used the Advance Dental Care building at 1148 S. McCall Road, a spot still damaged from last year’s hurricanes. They built props to make the roof collapse scenes and entanglements as real as possible.
Over the past few months, teams drilled on firefighter rescue skills. They focused on pulling downed firefighters from debris and cutting them free from wires, practicing until it became second nature. The six-part program covered everything, from command decisions down to the gritty, hands-on rescue work.
The EFD thanked their mutual aid partners at Charlotte County Public Safety for joining in and gave a shout-out to Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office fire dispatchers for sending part of their team to train alongside them.
