Pine Mountain Georgia Fire Department News

November 8, 2008
PMFD Training Burn

On Saturday, November 8, ten area fire departments participated in a live burn sponsored by the Pine Mountain.

The department was approached by the owner of a house that had been vacant for a number of years. Located inside the city limits, the house was located well off the road and provided an excellent opportunity for training.

Firefighters spent three work sessions removing the shingles and paper backing, water heater, along with exposed wiring and PVC pipe.

The opportunity was promoted well ahead of the scheduled burn, giving area firefighters ample notice and opportunity to plan attending and participating.

On the Saturday of the class, a number of firefighters expressed a desire to participate in a settee. During the settee, firefighters learned when and how to properly use a fire extinguisher instead of dumping hundreds of gallons of water in a person’s home when such action is not necessary.

In addition, during the settee firefighters were taught how to properly attack a fire. They also witnessed how the thermal layer is disrupted when the fire is attacked with the wrong nozzle pattern.

After the settee, fires were started inside the house. Teams of firefighters entered the burning house, had to locate the fire, and then extinguish it using a minimal amount of water to limit the collateral damage. This was done as quickly as possible while being safe.

Though the house was located inside the city limits, it was not close to a fire hydrant. During the class, water was hauled to the scene by tankers and engines equipped with dump valves. Two drop tanks were connected to maintain an adequate water supply.

Some of the firefighters were exposed to the effort involved in maintaining a continuous water supply. For fire departments in rural areas, the ability to use drop tanks and quickly establish a water shuttle operation is extremely important.

The class was hosted by the Pine Mountain Fire Department and taught by Thomas Scott. Fire engines were provided by Hopewell, Pine Mountain and Waverly Hall. Tankers were provided by Northwest Harris and Pine Mountain Valley.

Lunch was provided free to those participating firefighters by the Pine Mountain Valley Fire Department and Big Daddy’s catering.

Over 30 area firefighters participated in the class. Those area fire departments with firefighters participating in the class included Antioch, Ellerslie, Hopewell, Melody Lakes, Northwest Harris, Pine Mountain, Pine Mountain Valley, Shiloh, Waverly Hall and West Point.

There is a video available of this training fire. To keep the bandwidth as low as possible, please download it to your computer and view it from there. To download it, RIGHT click HERE and choose to "Save target as", and note where it is saved. 

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