Valparaiso Fire Department Participates in Realistic Training Exercise

Valparaiso Fire Department Participates in Realistic Training Exercise

The Valparaiso Fire Department participated in a training scenario that literally burned the house down.

"Earlier we did a live training burn in which we went through different scenarios and learned different tactics," said Valparaiso Fire Department Assistant Chief Jon Daly. "By doing this, we were able to see how different rooms in different houses burn with ventilation, floors, and windows."

This exercise presented a valuable learning opportunity for firefighters to see first hand how different techniques and factors that are associated with homes and fire can occur and more importantly, how they can be fought.

"This can let us see how fires react to things like open and closed windows and can allow us to see what the proper procedures are in each of these situations," said Daly.

Despite the intensity that the burning house may have presented to the onlooker, the Valparaiso Fire Department took all necessary steps to ensure that the fire was safely contained and presented no danger to the public.

"We made sure that all codes were followed and that safety instructors and teams experienced with live fire burn scenarios were present so everything was taken into precaution. There were both partial and full burns that were monitored and controlled at all times," said Daly.

For the dedicated firefighters keeping Valparaiso safe, this opportunity comes rarely but when it does, it presents an enormously valuable training experience that benefits all firefighters.

"This very rarely happens for us," said Daly. "We have an event like this maybe every five years and most of the time we do this at academies with live burns and fires in containers. We never have the opportunity to use a real world house for training and that is very special, it's a unique scenario."