LONDONDERRY — Members of the Londonderry Fire Department already know a thing or two about beating the heat, but can they keep their cool under pressure?

On Tuesday afternoon, local fire and paramedic crews were treated to a hands-on learning experience at Londonderry Freezer Warehouse.

The new warehouse, located at 219 Rockingham Road, opened last winter, with its adjacent office area opening its doors this past May.

Ed Dougherty, who owns the warehouse and Highway Cold Storage next door, said he was happy to assist the local fire department.

The idea of hosting a training exercise came about last spring, when fire staff did a walk-through of the 87,000-square-foot facility.

General Manager Don Arsenault said the situation worked out well since only a handful of the site's 20 employees were present Tuesday afternoon.

“Normally, we operate at night from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.,” Arsenault said, “so it's nice and quiet for them right now.”

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., fire crews began staging inside North Fire Station, with a dispatcher taking the initial distress call from inside the warehouse.

Using a life-sized mannequin and blazing fog machines, the firefighters experienced all the makings of a hazardous material leak, with one “worker” left unaccounted for.

As the firefighters and paramedics raced to the scene, they wasted little time in jumping into their bulky hazmat suits and slipping on breathing masks to embark on their search and rescue mission.

Battalion Chief James Roger said a leak inside a facility such as the local warehouse would present the risk of exposure to dangerous anhydrous ammonia gas, which is kept inside a large, yellow tank on the facility's second floor.

“We try to make this as realistic as possible,” he said, as he cranked up the fog machine inside the storage room.

Roger said the air quality in the warehouse is constantly monitored, which makes the chances of such an emergency happening at the Londonderry Freezer Warehouse pretty slim. Still, he said, with other industrial facilities in town such as Stonyfield Yogurt and Coca-Cola using similar chemicals, it's always good to provide staff with the knowledge of what to do in case the unthinkable happens.

The fire department held its first training exercise at the warehouse last week, and other sessions are set for Sept. 17 and Oct. 1.

“That way, all four of our companies will get in on this training,” Roger said. “These are perishable skills and thankfully, local industry is gladly opening its doors to us.”

- - - - - - - -

April Guilmet may be reached at AGuilmet@newstote.com.