Balaton BURN

Feeling the heat: Saturday’s training exercise serves as valuable tool for firefighters

The flames were real. The smoke was real. And Saturday’s live burn training in Balaton attracted a number of spectators — just like a “real” fire would.

And as flames jumped through the windows of the house at 130 Maple St. and plumes of thick smoke ominously rose above the trees and into the alreadycloudy sky, local firefighters were literally learning on the job.

“This was a good training to have,” Balaton Fire Chief Kasey Holm said. “We trained in the house prior (to the burn) for mock-ups; we did live hose advancement, nozzle tactics. Once all the groups went through with that, we went into the live fire evolutions and sent all the groups through as many times as they wanted.”

Firefighters from Russell, Tracy and Garvin joined their Balaton brothers for the training. The Balaton Fire Department has dedicated training once a month and also take part in numerous special meetings and take part in extra trainings throughout the year such as prescribed burns. The house burns are more rare because of all the paperwork and cost involved.

“When we get them, we try to get the most out of them,” Holm said. “You just can’t burn structures like you did 20 years ago — there are a lot of rules and regulations you have to follow. When we get the opportunity to do this, we like to do as much as we can with it before it burns completely down.”

The training benefits all firefighters — from rookies to veterans, and even fire chiefs who under real-time circumstances are more often left to supervision and communication duties.

“We don’t get those opportunities around here like bigger cities do — that’s not a norm around here, thankfully,” said Holm. “It’s good to get in there. It was an opportunity for some of our officers that don’t typically get to do an interior attack. It’s good for everyone to keep their skills sharp.”

The training is all about dealing with everything a house fire can potentially throw at a firefighter. Yes, there are flames, and there is smoke, but it’s so much more than that, Holm said.

“You always have the guys listen,” he said. “One of the big things that nobody thinks about is listening to a fire. When you’re in that house, listen for the life. You hear the fire cracking, you hear the wood, you hear the floor, the walls. You’ll know where that fire is before you can see it typically.”

While the flames are one of the most visible parts of any fire, there is so much more to a blaze than that. Watching the smoke, Holm said, is key to controlling a fire.

“You’ve got the heat, you’ve got the smoke — the smoke can tell you a lot,” said Holm. “You read the smoke, how it’s going out of the fire. When it’s really smoky, it’s not burning completely, it’s ready to make a big jump. When you go inside it’s nice and clear … it’ll go from perfectly clear to you won’t be able to see your hand in front of your face in a second.”

These are things, Holm, said, can’t be taught, they have to be experienced.

“This is real — it’s an actual house, it’s burning,” Holm said. “It shows the guys what’s really going to happen.”

The training isn’t just about the fire itself, Holm said. Lighting up a home in a residential area takes plenty of preparation and planning in an effort to keep the surrounding area safe. As the flames were eating away at the house itself (The Balaton EDA purchased the property) firefighters had to make sure that it wouldn’t spread and affect neighboring domiciles.

“A lot of it is exposure protection,” Holm said. “The houses next door, or behind in the alley we’ve got to think about that, too. It’s not just an offensive situation, you’ve got to play defense as well so nothing else burns down. You have to determine which way the wind is blowing, you have water walls to set up and you have to cool the adjacent structures.”

The fire was started much like one would start a fire in their fireplace — with kindling. In this case, it was hay bales and wood pallets.

“You find the rooms suitable for training,” Holm said. “You literally put straw and pallets in the corner and you build a pretty good campfire. Really what you’re trying to emulate is a room-and-contents fire. You just don’t go in and light the wall on fire. If you get the contents going, then everything else will burn.”

Another thing fire crews focus on besides the flames and smoke is accountability. As a chief, Holm needs to know where all his firefighters are and keep track of who goes in and who comes out.

“The second that things get going, I need to account for every person,” he said. “We don’t want someone inside that maybe has a medical issue, or when something comes up when that building is on fire.”

A couple days after the training exercise, members of the Balaton Fire Department met to review all that happened Saturday — what the firefighters saw, what they liked, and what they thought needs possible changing.

“What we could do better, what should we do better,” Holm said. “How did a new piece of equipment work?”

Holm added that having the community be able to watch as the firefighters go about their business is important. A planned burn gives residents a close-up look that they wouldn’t otherwise see in a real-time emergency.

“It’s good for them to see what we do, what we can do,” he said. “It’s, look what we can do safely so you’re going to be confident when you need a department, whether it’s us, Russell, Garvin, Tracy. You can get a little closer, see a little bit more of the inner workings.”