By Joseph DeBell
The Frederick News-Post
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — When firefighters climb onto a burning building, the roof beneath their feet can be just as dangerous as the flames below.
At a Frederick County training facility, firefighters practice navigating those dangers before confronting them in an emergency — climbing ladders, moving across rooftops and cutting openings to release smoke and heat.
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But years of repeated training had begun to wear down the roof of the facility’s burn building, stripping grit from its shingles and making the surface increasingly slippery when wet.
A partnership between two roofing companies has given the building a new roof, helping firefighters continue practicing potentially dangerous maneuvers while saving the county thousands of dollars in anticipated expenses.
TAMKO Building Products — which is based in Kansas and has a manufacturing facility in Frederick — donated roofing materials.
Topper Construction in Frederick provided the labor to replace the roof of the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services’ burn building in January.
The work was completed in a single day, according to Battalion Chief Francis Malta , who oversees the division’s training section. TAMKO confirmed the donation took place Jan. 14 .
The burn building allows firefighters to practice extinguishing fires, searching structures, climbing ladders and performing roof ventilation, a technique that involves cutting openings to release smoke and hot gases during a fire.
Malta said the building provides a realistic training environment because firefighters can observe how the placement and size of ventilation openings affect conditions inside a burning structure.
Over time, frequent foot traffic had worn away the protective granules on the building’s shingles, making the roof more slippery when wet and raising concerns about potential leaks.
Malta estimated the previous roof was approximately 12 to 15 years old.
He emphasized that the roof’s condition never forced the department to suspend training. Instead, officials arranged for the replacement before deterioration could interfere with operations.
Initially, the department planned to purchase the materials and have four or five staff members complete the replacement themselves.
Malta estimated the materials would have cost the county approximately $3,000 to $4,000, with the work expected to take about two days.
The project changed after department personnel contacted a Frederick County volunteer firefighter who worked for TAMKO. The company agreed to donate the roofing materials and helped connect the department with Topper Construction, which offered to perform the installation.
The donations saved the county money and allowed training personnel to focus on other responsibilities, Malta said.
TAMKO supplied Titan XT shingles for the project, according to Konner McIntire, the company’s director of communications and community relations. Malta said the donation also included underlayment, nails and drip edge, which directs water toward gutters.
McIntire said the project was an opportunity to support firefighters in a community where TAMKO has operated for decades.
The company broke ground on its Frederick manufacturing facility in 1978 and opened it in August 1979. The plant employs approximately 63 people, and the shingles donated for the project came from the Frederick facility, McIntire said.
“Usually, it’s to families, just putting a safe roof over their heads,” McIntire said of the company’s roofing donations. “But this is, supply the fire department with a roof where they can run training on it to make sure that they’re equipped to keep members of the community safe.”
Malta estimated that hundreds of firefighters use the training facility annually, including personnel from Frederick, Montgomery, Howard and Carroll counties who participate in University of Maryland training programs.
He said maintaining the building is essential because firefighting techniques require continuous practice, even after firefighters complete their initial training.
“Everything that we do is a perishable skill,” Malta said.
For Malta, the donation represents more than a new roof. It demonstrates the role local businesses can play in preparing firefighters for emergencies.
“It means a lot. Like to know that we have the support of the community,” he said.
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