SHERMAN TX--If you have ever had trouble parallel parking or turning around on a narrow road, imagine trying to do the same thing in a 30 foot vehicle, with load sirens going off in an emergency; That's what a group of Sherman and Pottsboro firefighters trained to do today.

Fire trucks and ambulances Surround a taped off area in the parking lot of Midway mall in Sherman, but the men gathered here on a windy morning, aren't responding to an emergency, they are preparing for one.

"This is an emergency vehicles operations course," said Sherman Firefighter Gregg Loyd.

The course is comprised of hundreds of cones that drivers must maneuver around.

"They go through here driving the apparatus they are going to respond in, so they will drive an engine, an ambulance and a brush truck," said Loyd.

While there aren't any high speed exercises involved in the training, that doesn't make it any less difficult.

"It is timed and it is line judged, so they are judged by accuracy and how long it takes them to get through the course," said Loyd.

Firefighter Justin Hall has been with the Sherman Fire Department for a month.
This training is designed to teach drivers like Justin how to move their vehicles in situations where space is limited.

"Driving a huge apparatus like this it is pretty difficult maneuvering within all of these cones," said Hall.

The course is narrow and drivers have to operate their trucks going forward and backward, and more than a few cones got crushed.

"I am going to say ten total, and that sounds like a pretty good number for a new driver," said Hall.

Bumping into a few orange cones now, could pay off later when firefighters respond to emergencies where getting a fire truck or ambulance safely into a small area could mean the difference between life and death.

"So it gives them a chance every year to handle the vehicles in some tight situations without actually damaging the equipment and that is what it is all about," said Loyd.