Philip Sparn | ClarksvilleNow.com
psparn@Clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The newest members of the Clarksville Fire Department experienced the real and intense heat of a house fire in a live-burn training scenario at the main fire station Friday afternoon.
The five new firefighters had to manage the extreme heat of a house fire that exceeded one-thousand degrees, while they trained to extinguish the controlled blaze in the fire department’s burn building.
The firefighters had to emulate what they would do in a real house-fire call from start to finish.
The rookie firefighters received the house-fire call on their radios and had to suit up in minutes, load the truck and arrive on the scene in their fire engine, ready to extinguish the fire as quick as possible.
When they arrived on the scene, the building already had a large fire roaring inside. The firefighters had to assess the scene, initiate a plan and start attempting to extinguish the fire in the burn building.
Assistant Chief Randy Ellis said they try to keep the fire in live burn scenario less than 1,200 degrees.
Ellis pointed out that the live burn scenario was an invaluable experience for young firefighters.
“Bringing them into a controlled environment like our burn building, where it’s safe and we know what’s going on, we can give them the crucial live-fire experience before they have to experience it in an uncontrolled environment,” said Ellis.
The five new firefighters – Derrick Williams, Bryan Hardwick, Andrew Yaceczko, Evan Rasch and Michael Long – were sworn in on Friday morning and the live burn scenario was a part of their on-going training process.
“We are taking the bits and pieces they have learned throughout the last five weeks of training and bringing it all together,” said Ellis. “You can say this is kind of like a graduation ceremony for the new guys before they move on to the state Fire Academy.”
See the photos and story from the firefighters swearing in ceremony here:
Photos by Philip Sparn | ClarksvilleNow.com