Flames erupt from the second floor of an empty house near Pompeys Pillar Saturday. Worden firefighters burned the house as a training exercise. Click on image to enlarge. (Carrie Killen photo)
POMPEYS PILLAR — An unoccupied house on Lower Canal Road became a training site for Worden firefighters, who burned it down Saturday morning.
The house off Fly Creek Road south of Interstate 94 was donated to the Worden Volunteer Fire Department for training. The family who owns the property plans to build a new home at the site.
In a meeting Saturday morning at the Worden fire hall, Chief Lance Taylor told firefighters he wanted them to concentrate on safe hose handling techniques and practice using air tanks.
“We’ll get her down to the ground fairly quickly,” Taylor said.
At the site, EMTs with the Worden ambulance checked each firefighter’s vital signs before the fire practice began, to be compared to vital signs afterward.
Firefighters had planned the fire practice since early summer, but put it off because of dry, windy conditions.
They placed “sets” of wooden pallets filled with hay in several rooms of the three-story home. They lit one set at a time, then put out the resulting fire in each area.
At the end, the fire was allowed to spread through the house, with fire captains taking the opportunity to instruct firefighters about how ventilation affects flames and how to direct the flow of water from different hoses.
The fire burned well into the afternoon, creating a column of smoke visible as far away as Custer.
