From Funerals To Firefighting, This Building Well Served Framingham: Report

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Firefighter trainees got an unusual chance to practice their skills last week with the help of a former funeral home.

The Boyle Brothers Funeral Home had been standing vacant at 173 Union Ave. for a year, but developers making plans for the site donated the building to the city’s fire department, the MetroWest Daily News reported Monday.

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The FFD used the gift as a test site for probationary firefighters to try out their abilities in a real-world building. According to dramatic photos from the newspaper, the practice included ladder-climbing, building entry and other critical steps in extinguishing a blaze.

Built in 1900, the two-story structure had an assessed value of $572,000, according to city records this year.

More trainees will practice here until the structure is razed in a few weeks and the site converted into needed housing, the newspaper reported.

You can read about the real estate's unusual use in the Daily News.