By Ann S. Kim
The Portland Press Herald
TOPSHAM, Maine — The flames were rolling across the ceiling. The firefighters hit it with the hose, sending a light fixture crashing down before the blaze was doused.
“That was one of the best I’ve had in awhile,” Capt. Derek Klemanski of the Brunswick Fire Department said after emerging from the training site.
Sunday was an unusual training day for the Topsham Fire Department, which invited firefighters from Brunswick and Lisbon to join in. The department organized training fires throughout the town’s former police and rescue building.
The space is being cleared to make way for a new neighborhood called Town Hall Village. The Highlands of Topsham, a retirement community, is expanding into the area behind the former town hall on Elm Street. Fifteen two-bedroom houses are planned for the site, with construction on the first foundations beginning in the coming weeks. The first residents are expected to move in during late summer.
The area is part of Topsham’s historic district. The town hall building will be preserved as part of the project. It will house common space, apartments, a wood workshop, a fitness center and possibly a movie theater. A pool will be built outside.
For firefighters, the construction plans represented a rare chance to burn a building for training. The opportunity comes at a time when there are fewer fires generally due to factors like increased fire prevention awareness and stricter codes. Those trends can pose a challenge for training.
“To send people away to school costs money and takes time,” said Fire Chief Ted Brillant.
Fires were set in various rooms in the building. Crews practiced their fire attack skills and their venting techniques to let smoke and heat out.
“It’s always exciting,” Glendon Bordas, a town firefighter, said. “It’s that rush of adrenaline, whether it’s a training fire or an actual emergency.”
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