Firefighter in Oklahoma becomes his department’s first smoke diver

Broken Arrow is celebrating one of its firefighters. He’s become the department’s first Smoke Diver.

The Oklahoma Smoke Diver Association is one of only three Smoke Diver programs in the United States.

Oklahoma’s program is in its second year and now 11 more firefighters have the designation including Broken Arrow’s own Wade Ambrose.

Becoming a certified Smoke Diver is all about rigorous training and teaching firefighters to push past their breaking point to become better at their jobs.

“Bad stuff usually happens later on in the fire. It’s not when everybody is fresh. It’s usually when people are tired and start making bad decision. [The program is] designed to make people better at critical thinking and performing under high stress when they are physically taxed,” Wade Ambrose said.

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