Routine training ends with real house fire call
Franklin County Fire District #4 firefighters gathered Wednesday night for scheduled, routine training. Fire Chief Steve Cooper said the district is made up of all volunteers and they use Wednesday nights to practice their skills. The planned practice scenario suddenly turned into the real thing as the fire district based out of Basin City was called to a house fire on Russell Road.
The call for help came in just after 6 p.m. just as training was getting underway. Chief Cooper said when the first volunteers arrived at the scene, about 30% of the home was on fire. Firefighters quickly went to work battling back the flames and nearly had it put out when the homeowner showed up to the property. That was when Chief Cooper learned the home had been abandoned for around 10 years. The homeowner said there wasn't any insurance on the building and told the firefighters they could let it burn.
"So we decided to turn it into the training exercise," Chief Cooper said. The fire was put out and re-lit a couple of times so the firefighters could take full advantage of every inch of the structure.
While Chief Cooper said the cause of the fire isn't known yet, for FCFD #4, this was a great opportunity that doesn't come around often. He said the district primarily battles wildland fires and only sees about four to five structure fires a year.
"It's a good opportunity for the firemen to get some experience on dealing with residential structure fires," Chief Cooper explained. "Some of these kinds of trainings like this are great for our teamwork, our leadership and our learning experiences. Whenever we get the opportunity to train on something like this, we take advantage of it."
No one was hurt and the volunteers will head home after all hotspots are out, which could be a few more hours.