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Students Learn Survival Skills In Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New Yorkers who want to learn to survive in the wilderness are heading to ... Brooklyn?

As CBS 2's Kristine Johnson reported, in a most unlikely environment -- underneath the Pulaski Bridge in Greenpoint -- students are learning skills that can save their lives.

"You wouldn't expect anything like this to be in Brooklyn," one woman said.

"Normally, you would take a survival class out in the woods somewhere," said another student, Cynthia.

Instead, students gathered on the bank of Newtown Creek to learn basic survival skills set in an urban environment.

With only basic tools, Jens Rasmussen, an experienced survivalist, teaches some of the skills that could mean the difference between life and death.

"There's a really deep sense of satisfaction that I see people get from connecting with these, what you might call, primitive skills," Rasmussen said.

No matter what you call them, they are the same skills needed to survive in natural or manmade disasters.

The focus is also on what Rasmussen calls the most basic skills of all -- making a fire without matches.

"The words 'fire-making class' kind of sparked the imagination," one of the students told Johnson.

By the end of the class, all of the students were able to make a flame.

"You never know when knowledge is going to be of handy in any given situation," Cynthia said.

The classes are about four hours long and cost $100.

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