House burns for training

OLYMPIA - Members of the Olympia Fire Department burned a house to the ground Saturday as part of live fire training for new and veteran firefighters as well as six students from Bates Technical College in Tacoma.

The daylong burn was at a vacant, 1,200-square-foot house on Ontario Street near 18th Avenue Southeast, a property acquired by the city about a year ago to make way for two roundabouts, one at 18th Avenue and Hoffman Road and one at 18th Avenue and Fones Road. Roundabout construction is expected to start by early April.

Before Saturday’s fire, the city spent months planning and about two weeks getting the house ready, removing all furniture, windows and other materials to make it safe for firefighting crews to access. Trees and shrubbery around the house also were trimmed back and information about the fire was hand-delivered to neighbors, Assistant Fire Chief Greg Wright said. An open house for the neighborhood also was recently held at a nearby church, he said.

The focus of the training, which started just before 8 a.m. and was expected to end at 5 p.m., was to observe and watch smoke conditions and how a fire grows, Capt. Steve Cooper said. During the morning, different crews went from room to room in the house, setting and extinguishing fires, then the entire house was set ablaze about 2 p.m. by starting a fire in the back of the garage. Propane torches and wooden pallets were used to help ignite the fire in the stripped-bare house.

Lt. Mike Buchanan, a 17-year veteran with the Fire Department, said there was no substitute for live fire training, adding that “it can’t be replicated in a book or in a YouTube video.”

Buchanan took part in four room fires Saturday, each with a crew of eight people.

The training also helps to “reiterate the basics,” he said.

Buchanan was one of about 30 firefighters at the fire site, including six students studying to become firefighters as part of a two-year program at Bates Technical College. Jake Cederwall, 20, was among them and said it was his first time to fight a fire inside a house and experi- ence how fire reacts in that setting.

Although six students were at the site Saturday, as many as 12 helped to prepare the house for the fire, Bates training chief Pat Piper said.

In addition to the 30 firefighters, as many as 50 people gathered to watch the fire. Traffic, too, was redirected away from the fire because 18th Avenue was closed between Hoffman Road and Kempton Street.

The Fire Department was planning to check the site several times Saturday night, Assistant Chief Wright said.

Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403

rboone@theolympian.com