Burnet firefighters burn down vacant house in training exercise Nov. 19
Firefighters with the Burnet Fire Department sit on concrete cinder blocks in a reinforced room of a vacant building Nov. 20 during a training exercise. Hay was burned on a metal bed frame as the room was enclosed for the firefighters to see first-hand how quickly fire and smoke fill a room. Temperatures reached 800 degrees in the room after about two minutes. Photo by Fire Marshal John Erskine/Burnet Fire Department
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
BURNET — As a fire consumed a vacant house and a nearby storage building Nov. 20, the Burnet Fire Department just let it burn.
Firefighters ensured the blaze didn’t spread beyond the two structures and worked to save one large tree.
The department didn’t burn down the buildings at the corner of South Pierce and Elm streets for no reason, though.
The structures were donated to the department and made for the perfect site for fire training, Chief Mark Ingram said.
“Nothing can replace live fire training,” Ingram said. “It fit every bit of (National Fire Protection Agency) standards and is why we were able to take advantage of it. Some have offered for us to burn their buildings, but it was too dangerous for whatever reason. This one was perfect.”
The department took out any hazardous materials and then reinforced parts of the structure.
“All the structures in here, it’s all solid,” said Burnet EMS Coordinator Lealand Raiford. “The threat of anything burning without a heavy-duty accelerant is really minimal.”
The two buildings sat on the corner of a lot with nothing else near it. One house, on the opposite corner, was the only other building on the lot.
In Raiford’s 13 years at the department, he could not recall any similar opportunity to burn down a structure in town.
On Nov. 5, the department used the building for search-and-rescue training. It’s something firefighters usually only get at fire trainings in larger cities.
“We took some barrels and put hay in it and got it good and smoky in there,” Ingram said. “It was nothing more than search and rescue.”
This allowed for the entire department to be together and take part in trainings in town without the expense of travel.
“This answered everything we needed, and it’s right here in town,” Ingram said.
On Nov. 20, the department went through more training before lighting the storage building on fire and seeing how it spread to the main building.
Shift by shift, Burnet firefighters sat on concrete cinderblocks inside a 110 square foot room and watched fire and smoke engulf the area as temperatures reached 800 degrees.
“As the heat builds, the smoke and heat go down. It builds a thermal layer,” Burnet firefighter Chad Fields said. “The thermal layer came down to about three feet off the ground.”
The firefighters could see how the fire and heat went from the hay on a bed frame down to the floor and then up to the ceiling. At about two minutes, the room was up to 800 degrees.
Even with their full gear and oxygen, sitting still in a hot room filled with smoke left some feeling uneasy.
“I can see how someone who doesn’t have all that on would get pretty antsy,” Fields said. “It’s a scary situation and why families should have two ways out (of their home.)”
jared@thepicayune.com