Monroe Fire Department Burns Vacant Home for Training

Press release from Lt. Bill Owens, City of Monroe Fire Department:

Last Saturday the City of Monroe Fire Department conducted a live fire training exercise at 416 E. Spring St. This unique opportunity for the fire department which involved the complete destruction of the structure is designed to remove vacant/unwanted structures and give firefighters the skills needed to perform their job.

It all starts with the desire of the owner to remove a building, in this case Taylor’s Wrecker Service. They contacted the Monroe Fire Department to see if it was feasible to have them burn it down. After following state and federal EPD regulations, the house was prepared for the training exercise.

During the exercise the fire department starts in one room setting a fire then allowed fire crews to enter the hot, smoke filled house to extinguish the blaze. Once safety officers deemed the room unsafe the exercise is moved to an adjacent room.

This process is repeated until no rooms are usable for the exercise and the last fire is allowed to grow and spread to consume the entire structure. From start to finish the exercise took approximately 12 hours to complete. “It doesn’t get more real than this, it’s some of the best hands on training our department has had in 10 years”, said Bill Owens the Training Officer for the department.

There were over 25 firefighters from Monroe Fire Department, Walton County Fire Rescue and Oconee County Fire Department participated in the live fire training, which “provides the best possible fire training for our Firefighter while ridding our community of a blighted and most times unsafe buildings”, said  Keith Glass Monroe Public Safety Director.

If you own a building you think would be a candidate for this type event contact Lt. Bill Owens at the Monroe Fire Department 770-267-4446 or email  wowens@monroega.gov for more information.