FDLT NEWS
This past Saturday, new recruits with the Fire Department of Liberty Township were “baptized by fire” as new members of the department with a live-fire training burn that took place at 6203 S. 400 E. in Liberty Township. It is as close as you can get to a real life situation, where seconds count, and firefighters must rely solely on the important training scenarios that they have practiced to prepare them for these situations.
New members James Chatham, Sarah Kay, Warren Weakley, and Christian Werner noted that the experience was nothing like what they had imagined. Students had the opportunity to train alongside members from other agencies including Mill Creek Fire District, as well as Madison Township, Greene Township and Gregg Township from Morgan County, experiencing phenomenon of fire behavior including flashover, where the contents of a room reach ignition point simultaneously, causing the room to “flash” with fire. This can be a dangerous situation that firefighters must prepare for and be able to recognize the signs of an imminent flashover.
The training burn concluded with a controlled burn of the residence, while members of the community took in the site with awe, as a two-story, large residence was reduced to a concrete foundation in less than thirty minutes. Corey Bordenkecher, spokesperson for the Fire Department of Liberty Township commented, “It is always impressive to see a building this large be overcome in a matter of minutes and reduced to a pile of ashes. These exercises help remind all of us of the importance of having a proactive fire department in our community, with the adequate funding for training to better prepare for such incidents.” Such trainings can be hard to come by; however, the recent I70 Westpoint Development and 70 West Commerce Park have lent some of its acquired properties to the Fire Department of Liberty Township for training burns.
FDLT plans to host at least one other training burn later this year, where community members will be invited to witness how firefighters train, what goes on inside of a burning house, and the difficulty of communications on the fire-ground. More information will be forthcoming.