Today the RCFD burned down a hundred year old farmhouse that is on land that will be turned into a housing development. The house was used as a training burn, which means that fires are lit in the house, then extinguished and re-lit. Each time the fire is re-lit, a team goes into the house, finds the fire, and puts it out with a minimum amount of water so it can be lit again. The object is to get as many fires lit and extinguished as possible before the structure becomes unsafe. In this picture, the first fire has just been lit off and is already spreading into the attic where it wasn't supposed to go.
2 minutes later, heavy smoke was pushing out the whole length of the attic and it seemed like we might lose the house on the first fire. The 100-year old wood was very dry and really wanted to burn. Fortunately, the first fire was brought under control and the firefighters were able to re-light it 33 times after that.
This picture was taken from a different side, where the fire fighters would make their entrance into the house. Most of the cloud coming out of the house at this point is not smoke, but is steam from the water that had been put on the fire
In this picture, a team is entered the house to find their way up the stairs in the dark to get water on the fire burning on the second floor.
After 34 fires (and 3 hours later), it was determined that the structure was no longer safe so the house was set ablaze for the final time.
The water being put on the fire at this point is just to try to control the amount of flaming embers that were being carried around the neighborhood. The spray coming from the top of the fire truck on the right is just being used to cool the firetruck itself, which was being exposed to a lot of radiant heat.
By lunchtime, there wasn't much left.
This picture was taken from a different side, where the fire fighters would make their entrance into the house. Most of the cloud coming out of the house at this point is not smoke, but is steam from the water that had been put on the fire
In this picture, a team is entered the house to find their way up the stairs in the dark to get water on the fire burning on the second floor.
After 34 fires (and 3 hours later), it was determined that the structure was no longer safe so the house was set ablaze for the final time.
The water being put on the fire at this point is just to try to control the amount of flaming embers that were being carried around the neighborhood. The spray coming from the top of the fire truck on the right is just being used to cool the firetruck itself, which was being exposed to a lot of radiant heat.
By lunchtime, there wasn't much left.
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