Everyone Goes Home

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
- Benjamin Franklin, Father of the American Fire Service

Making sure that everyone goes home has become a personal mission for Rob Lenois. The Captain with the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company is heading up an effort to construct a training facility on the grounds of Haddam Fire Station 1.

Town officials have approved plans to build on site and Lenois has obtained stamped foundation plans donated by architects at Friar Associates, Inc. in Farmington. A 16-foot trench was also recently dug to test the soil.

All that’s needed now is money to finish the project.

“This is an all-volunteer effort that depends on people donating their time and talent. It also relies on funding from the community,” Lenois said. “With land to excavate, concrete to pour and cranes to lift, we anticipate a budget currently beyond our means.”

To build a facility of comparable quality and safety to that of training facilities in the area, Lenois anticipates a total project cost of around $50,000. The Fire Company has authorized some initial seed money to get the project off the ground, but it’s far short of what’s needed to complete it.

The two-story structure will be constructed out of four donated metal shipping containers, each measuring 40'L x 8'6"W x 8'H. The containers have traveled around the world on massive freighters and now, rather than being crushed into scrap metal, they will perform the most important role of their lives - training firefighters to be safe.

The new facility will be built into the side of the hill behind the station’s upper parking lot to serve as a “built-to-burn” training center for firefighters in Haddam and surrounding towns. As a building framework, the advantage of shipping containers is they are fire-retardant, reusable and extremely durable.

Learning and maintaining firefighting fundamentals depends on practical, hands-on training that can’t be done in front of a computer screen or in a classroom. Live burns are required for all firefighters seeking state certification, and conducting search-and-rescue and advancing hose in smoke- and heat-filled environments are critical skills learned in the Firefighter I course. In addition, Haddam’s new facility will teach firefighters how to navigate through obstacles in a confined space, and perform ladder bailouts and self-extrications in a crisis.

The nature of the Fire Service is changing. About 60 percent of the calls handled by the HVFCo are medical emergencies, while fewer than 25 percent are fires. The National Fire Protection Association estimates that structure fires peaked at 1,098,000 in 1977 at 1,098,000, then decreased steadily to 688,000 by the end of 1989, an overall decrease of 37.3 percent. Since then, the number of structure fires has fluctuated but leveled out at around 500,000 a year.

But while the kinds of emergencies has shifted, fire doesn’t get any less deadly. In fact, it’s deadlier than ever.

Newer homes contain significantly more hydrocarbon-based synthetic materials. These synthetics burn hotter and faster than ordinary combustibles, compounding the dangers faced by firefighters. Combine that with a gradual decline in real-world firefighting and there’s a greater need for training than the Fire Service has ever known.

Members of Haddam Fire routinely train for structure fires, making special trips to burn buildings in New Haven, Cromwell and Colchester. However, the Fire Company lacks anything comparable in our own backyard, and those training visits are few and far between.

“This is why we need the public’s help,” Lenois said. “This training facility is all about keeping our firefighters at the top of their game and saving lives.”

Contributions may be sent to:
The Haddam Volunteer Fire Co. Training Facility Fund
P.O. Box 194, Higganum, CT 06441

“We deeply appreciate anything that residents can do to help us meet our financial goal,” Lenois said. “Every little bit helps bring us one step closer to a training facility that will serve our firefighters for generations to come.”

Do You Have What It Takes? Find more information on the activities of the Haddam Volunteer Fire Co. and ways you can get involved at our website www.HaddamFire.com, or connect with us on Facebook.