Fire used to train ÿ reÿ ghters

GRAVETTE - The Gravette Fire Department, on Wednesday evening, conducted a training exercise in which it burned a vacant residential property. The structure, located on the campus of the Holiness Bible School, had been vacant for some time. This was the third such house-burning training exercise conducted by the department in recent months.

David Smith, fire chief, said the department utilizes suchtraining sessions for the 25 member volunteer department. He elaborated: five of the members are paramedics, fi ve are emergency medical technicians and the remaining 15 are all trained fi rst responders. They provide a nucleus for the paramedic ambulance the city provides.

The department also has six junior fire department members, who could become members of the department in the future if they desire.

The frame structure chosen for this session was prepared prior to torching it early Wednesday evening. Members of the department donned their air tanks and other gear, which in itself has a prescribed procedure, and navigated through the smokefilled rooms. Such training proves invaluable when faced with real-life situations which sometimes can involve trapped and sometimes unconscious victims. Dealing with heat, smoke and other hazards can be a challenge, not only for new fi refighters, but also for veteran fi re fi ghters.

Besides handling the actual blaze, experience in laying hose, utilizing proper connections and operating controls on the fi re trucks are among other training pluses. Of course, the cleanup afterwards is an integral part of training to prepare the trucks and equipment to be ready if they are really needed.

Following the in-house exercise and a brief cooling off period, the structure was allowed to become engulfed, which also provided practice in extinguishing or controlling the blaze with water from the hoses, depending on the location of the blaze and its intensity.

As flames lit the sky in the darkening night, curious motorists provided some instruction on how to handle traffi c control in such situations to help avoid accidents.

And as the training proceeded and the house fi nally collapsedin the consuming blaze, several members of the Holiness Bible School and Church of God (Holiness) were joined by others who gathered on the campus lawn to watch as one of the early structures on the campus filled a fi nal use for the community.