Oswego Fire Department Burns Old Mill Road Farmhouse

If you saw smoke in the sky yesterday, and wondered just what on Oswego’s west side was burning, well, don’t worry.

The conducted a controlled burn of a farmhouse on Mill Road by Orchard Road on Saturday, the culmination of about eight months of training in the donated home, according to Battalion Chief Jeff Warren.

The fire department set individual rooms ablaze for training early in the day, and burned the house to the ground sometime after noon, Warren said. Between 15 and 20 Oswego firefighters were involved in the training, he said. Mill Road was blocked off while the burn was conducted.

There was no particular reason Saturday was chosen for the burn, Warren said – the date was selected weeks in advance. Once lit, the house burned down to the basement in about 45 minutes, he said, causing a plume of smoke to rise into the sky.

Warren said the neighboring homeowners and businesses were warned of the controlled burn, and the dispatch center was aware as well, to answer questions from callers.

Oswego Patch Facebook fans snapped pictures of the burn, and shared them. If you have pictures of Saturday’s burn, feel free to add them to the gallery.