On May 17, 2017, 31-year-old San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem died while searching for victims inside a burning building. After the fire, department leaders in command that night began working to build an innovative new facility, the Deem Training Center, to drill San Antonio's firefighters on "mayday" scenarios like the one that killed Deem. Since the facility opened in 2018, not only have crews improved in search and rescue performance, the work has also proved therapeutic for everyone involved.