EVERSON, Wash. — Firefighters with Whatcom County Fire District #1 will be involved in a live fire training drills Saturday, October 16th. “This training is valuable to our volunteers who donate their time for training and respond to calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” WCFD1 Division Chief Darren Branum said in an email to Whatcom News.
A vacant residence and nearby outbuilding at 7248 Everson Goshen Road will be the site of the training.
Location of live fire training site
Fire crews will practice several aspects of firefighting during these drills such as operating fire pumps, deploying hoses, setting up ventilation fans, and using S.C.B. A’s (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus). Some other less noticeable things we will train on is the use of a Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) and the Incident Command System for the safety of our firefighters. While we train on each of these topics individually throughout the year, this opportunity allows us to perform them together in a real-life situation to make sure every aspect works together. WCFD1 Division Chief Darren Branum
The training will begin in the morning and involve repeatedly setting, locating and extinguishing fires in different rooms in the house. Some smoke can be seen coming from the house during these drills. After the structure becomes unstable, the house will be a allowed to burn completely. Flames and smoke will be visible during this process and fire crews will be positioned to ensure the fire is contained to the building.