By Shelby Young
Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
Copyright 2007 Charleston Newspapers
TEAYS VALLEY, W.Va. — The second day of training for several area volunteer fire departments is not quite as wet as the first, but getting colder by the moment.
The ashes of the first house are still smoldering. The houses, slated to be torn down to make way for development, were donated to the firefighters so they could get some controlled practice in fighting fires.
Teays Valley Fire Chief John R. Smoot explains that the “acquired structures, will have fires set in them again and again, room by room, until nothing much is left but ashes.”
Firefighters from Teays Valley, Winfield, Bancroft, Institute, Lavalette and a smattering of other departments are busily carrying wooden pallets and straw into the house.
“We don’t use any petroleum products in these fires,” Smoot explains. “It lets us control the level of the fire.”
“The purpose of the two-day exercise is so we can learn about the heat, experience it in a safe environment,” says Robert Beaver of TVFD.
The temperature along the floor of the house, once it is burning, will be 500 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, while at the ceiling it will be around 1,000 degrees, according to Smoot.
He recalls that at one fire, the temperatures reached about 1,400 degrees.
Plywood is being nailed to the outside of the empty window frames under the watchful eyes of Bill Durham. He’s on hand as a representative of the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension.
Durham, who once served as a firefighter with the Teays Valley VFD before becoming program coordinator of the state operation in Morgantown, says that a representative of the Fire Service Extension is present at all training exercises such as this one.
“We help make sure that all the safety procedures are followed correctly,” he says. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt.
“Teays Valley Fire Department is excellent at following safety procedures, but some places in the state, they aren’t as careful.”
The plywood on the windows will help to keep the heat in the building and retain the smoke inside. But the sheets are nailed on the outside of the frames, so that if there is a problem, the firefighters can shove the sheets out of the way and escape through the windows, Durham says.
After a walk through the building for a final inspection, Durham holds a last-minute briefing.
“And if you hear the big horn sound,” he says (the heavy pumper truck with a hellishly loud horn is sitting near the burn site), “don’t wait for confirmation. Just get outside.”
The firefighters have suited up in their fire-retardant suits and are helping each other with the heavy air bottles and other equipment that will keep them alive and hopefully safe in heat the would melt the average household oven.
Headgear must cover every inch of skin. Breathing masks must mesh exactly with the edges of other garments.
A tiny opening in their clothing could allow the searing heat to burn them in an instant.
They know that even with every precaution, firefighters still get burned sometimes.
The fires are lit and small groups take their turns going into the burning building, crouched low and moving slowly in suits and equipment that adds almost 100 pounds to their weight.
The pumps whine under the effort of forcing tons of water through the hoses.
Tanya Faulkner, a 12-year veteran of TVFD, monitors a panel filled with gauges and flashing lights, making sure the flow continues as it should.
She’s a nurse who first became involved with the fire department because of her association with emergency medical personnel.
“They kept telling me I should join,” she said. “So I finally did.”
As the hours tick by, the firefighters take their turns inside. Methodically, each room is burned, then the fire damped down as they move to the next one.
It’s a complex business, being a volunteer firefighter these days, says Tom Ledger of the Institute VFD.
There’s a need for lots of training with complicated equipment and procedures.
“When I first started out as a volunteer, all they said was ‘Put the wet stuff on the red stuff’,” he grinned.
The exercise continues into the afternoon as the temperature drops and the water turns the soil around the house into muddy soup.
Taking short breaks, the firefighters munch on food donated by Papa John’s, Hardee’s, McDonald’s and Burger King. The efforts of the day are beginning to show in drawn faces and tired eyes, even in the younger volunteers.
They come from all walks of life - cooks, nurses, chemical workers, teenagers who work at grocery stores - these people who put their lives on the line for no pay.
And finally by mid-afternoon, the training is over and the flames are beginning to shoot out of the windows and through the roof of the house. Durham gives the order and the big pumper’s horn blasts out the call for everyone to get away from the house.
It will be a few hours more before everyone can leave.
There’s a lot of equipment to gather up and the flames in the burning house have to be controlled so the fire doesn’t spread.
A big backhoe, donated for the exercise by A&S Excavating, edges carefully in to move some of the debris.
Smoot holds out his fire helmet, showing how the fire has blacked and shrunk the number badge on the helmet’s front.
The fire shoots up 30 feet into the air above the house.
Sitting on a stack of pallets, firefighter Luke Edwards watches the blaze and wipes some soot from his hand before reaching for his cell phone.
He holds it up and takes a photo with his phone of the remains of the building where he had crawled through the heat and smoke not long before.