Sumner Home Provides Firefighters Hands-On Experience

Residents who saw black smoke repeatedly billowing into an otherwise clear sky near downtown Sumner can relax.  It was just personnel playing with matches Saturday.

The day-long training exercise took place in a vacant home at 642 W. Main St., which was set ablaze eight times to simulate different residential-fire scenarios.  On the ninth go, firefighters put burning flares to the interior then stood by with hoses to protect adjacent structures as the house became an inferno and burned to the ground.

Dina Sutherland, public information officer for the department, said the wood-and-masonry structure actually had been used daily for the last three weeks for non-fire training.  Nearly 200 full-time and volunteer firefighters rotated through it to practice search-and-rescue techniques.

The practice burn was made possible by , which owned the property and is clearing the land.  The auto dealership donated it to the department for training purposes, said firefighter Andy Hinson, who was incident commander for one of the Saturday's simulations.

“What we’re trying to do is teach people the art of reading smoke, looking at some fire, feeling how hot things can be for people who don’t always get into these kinds of things like some of us,” he said. “We go in, light it, put it out, light the next one, put it out, and so on and so forth.”

Since donated houses are in short supply and this type of practice is hard to come by, Hinson said firefighters try to have at least five -- and preferably 10 -- small fires in a structure to maximize its use before it’s too far gone.

This particular house was unique in that multiple add-ons were constructed over the years.  From the street, it appeared to be a conventional two-story structure.  But the rear abutted a hill, which put the lower section underground.

“There are lots of ins and outs and places you can’t get to from one side,” Hinson said.  “It’s a scary structure in our world.  There are hallways that don’t go where you think they would and enclosed spaces that are just there, but they don’t do anything for you.  The good thing is that it has a lot of big, heavy timber and it’s a very old house, so it burns quickly.

“We call this a 2-1/2 level structure.  It’s about 1,700 square feet.”

Hinson estimated the value at about $150,000.

“You can’t say enough about how valuable this kind of opportunity is,” he added.  “We only get maybe two or three of these kinds of settings a year.  We have to buy houses and in today’s economy that’s not going to happen.”

The burn provided a bit of afternoon diversion for a couple of dozen residents, who watched from behind yellow caution tape -- along with the wives and children of several firefighters -- as the house was razed.