Andover firefighters train to maintain skills
By Staff reports
Augusta Gazette
Fri Oct 23, 2009



Fire departments from three area towns polished their house fire fighting techniques last Saturday.

Last weekend saw smoke rolling from a local building south of Andover.
The home in the 1800 block of South Andover Road was set ablaze not once, twice or even three times on Saturday.
Fire Crews from Andover, Rose Hill and Benton succeeded in conducting a training drill cycle that allowed crews to experience real interior fire fighting operations in a controlled environment.
The home along the Four Mile Creek flood way was recently purchased by Butler County as part of a flood damage mitigation project that has been ongoing in the area for several years. Before being removed, Emergency responders from around the area have been using the building as a training site.
Law enforcement and firefighters have been conducting searches under various conditions over the past several weeks. Fire crews have been learning forcible entry, ventilation and rescue techniques.
Saturday's fire scenarios were repeated in different parts of the structure while fire crews made access, searched for victims and extinguished the training fires. The heavy masonry and steel in the core of the structure lends its self to this type of training because of its strength and fire resistive abilities. Training of this type allows firefighters to experience the heat and poor visibility in such a way that they will be able to build confidence in their equipment and abilities in order to be fully prepared when a true fire emergency strikes the area and lives are at risk.