By Hadas Kuznits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — This week is Emergency Medical Services week and Wednesday is EMS day. Local medical residents got a firsthand look Wednesday at what firefighters and EMS personnel go through.

As part of the second annual ‘Day of EMS,’ medical residents joined forces with firefighters and EMS crews at the Philadelphia Fire Academy.

Dan Minczak, EMS Division Chief at Drexel College of Medicine, says it helps doctors understand firsthand what firefighters go through.

“The fire department is going to set up a simulation and actually set a room on fire. The physicians are going to be in there in protective apparatus,” Minczak explained.

Xandus Chen is a first year resident with Aria Health.

Kuznits: “You just came out of a burning building!”
Chen: “It is a lot harder than I could ever imagine.”

“There’s physiological stresses, there’s psychological stresses,” Minczak said.

“It’s a little scary, especially at the end when they put the fire out and it’s just smoke and all you could see is smoke and you couldn’t see anybody else,” Chen explained.

Not to worry — all the residents made it out alive.