Live Fire Training

LIVE FIRE TRAINING?

 Firefighters receive hundreds of hours of initial training in order to become certified, first as Firefighter II and then Firefighter III.  That training includes lecture and practical sessions.  During the class there is a live fire training session where firefighters get their opportunity to meet fire face to face.  Such sessions provide invaluable experience for the new firefighter.

 Fire prevention programs and stricter building codes are reducing the number of fires that any firefighter experiences during their career.  Thus, the opportunity for an additional live fire training session in an “acquired” building provides not only refresher but additional experience for firefighters.   

The buildings are generally uninhabitable and about to be torn down.  The SGFPD also requires them to be located such that smoke will not create a nuisance for neighbors (most often these are old farmhouses so that they are located some distance from subdivisions).  An Illinois EPA Air Pollution Control permit is required as is one from the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency.  An asbestos inspection is required and any asbestos must be removed prior to demolition.  Utilities must be completely disconnected.  For further information on the requirements, owners should contact Mack Sherman at the Village of Spring Grove or McHenry County Planning and Development in Woodstock for unincorporated  properties to assure that they have met code permit requirements.

Once the paperwork is complete, firefighters “reconstruct” rooms providing areas for safe burning.  If the actual structure burns, it becomes unsafe for training.  Other “safety” features include a ventilation hole, removal of vessels (minimize explosion), import of wood and straw for actual fires as well as removal of any other hazards.   

The building is often used for multiple trainings including ventilation, search and rescue, forcible entry and Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) training.  On the day of the burndown, teams will be assembled for attack, back-up and overhaul.  A room is burned then extinguished and overhauled.  There are always multiple instructors, back-up water supplies, hose lines so that the training can be conducted in the safest possible manner.  At the end, the building is permitted to burn, ideally collapsing into the foundation.  The owner is then responsible for final clean-up and disposal.