BANGOR, Maine — They're looking up and climbing down.
Bangor firefighters are used to being on ladders, though the ones they use are typically attached to a fire truck.
All week, firefighters from Central Station and Station #6 have been taking tours of the Penobscot Theater on Main Street.
The tours are just like an inspection, except instead of giving information to a building's owner, they are gathering information for themselves.
The firefighters with the Bangor Fire Department are always on call, but they take time once a month when they aren't out on a call to tour big box stores, apartment buildings, and older buildings in the city, including the theater.
"Essentially it's intelligence gathering, if you will," said Bangor Fire Department Assistant Chief Philip Hamm.
Hamm said firefighters take these tours in shifts to include all of the different crews.
The purpose is to better familiarize themselves with these buildings in case of an emergency.
"Find the ways, or the easiest ways to help with fire suppression or search and rescue efforts in case there's an emergency in these kind of buildings," added Hamm.
The firefighters and paramedics climbed stage steps, slipped through tight spaces, and investigated dark corners of the theater to get to know their surroundings.
"The large hole in the wall that you noticed as you walked into the room is access underneath the seating of the auditorium," theater staff told the group.
The last time there was a major incident at the theater was in 1914 when a fire severely damaged the building.
"It's rare that you actually might come here -- so to have a tour, you get that better understanding if something does arise," said firefighter and paramedic Ryan Blanchette after touring the theater himself.
Another firefighter touring the theater said he's been with the department for 29 years but had never stepped foot inside the theater until he took one of these tours.
"We try to go out as much as we can," said Hamm."We always like to go in to see what the hazards are. [If there's] anything unique to a building, we'd like to know, and what we do is we put it in a system so dispatch or myself can actually bring it up and look and let my crews know, 'hey, there might be a hazard area. Just be careful of that.' That kind of thing."
Fire departments across the state, and across the country, have also adopted this practice to better prepare themselves for an emergency.