Live Training Fires

[Scott2912]

Looking to hear how other departments plan, prep and conduct live training fires in aquired structures.

Does your department have a SOP for training fires other than NFPA 1403?

How are the buildings prepared for the exercise?

Are you permitted to use furniture for fireload or just Class A material?

Are the students given instruction on interior fire attack prior to the evolution?
Is this left up to a senior crewmember or "qualified" instructor?

Thanks in advance!

Scott

[PTFD21]

Hey Scott -

Our dept. does quite a few live trainng burns. We do have an SOP in place. The buildings are investigated to make sure all utilities have been cut, that written permission as well as acquired structure has a clear title.
The site is inspected and removed any oil tanks, or any other containers of combustible materials. Floor openings, loose railings, missing stair treads are repaired or made inaccessible.Bee hives, and other debris is removed to an inaccessible area. If the building is beyond repair, sufficient to make it safe then no interior operations are performed.
Only Class A materials are used for interior training classes. We have also done arson training fires for a nearby college that does a suspicious fire investigation class. There are other standards in place for arson training fires which are more stringent and done by experienced personnel only.
Things like water supply, sufficient staging and vehicle parking, exposures, spectator safety and other similar issues should be taken into account. All of our live fire trainings shall have a Rapid Intervention Team in place. A safety officer should also be designated.
One person is assigned to control the materials being burned and to ignite the training fires. Of course this person is assigned another F/F to assist.
All personnel shall have on full structural firefighting gear and SCBA.


Hope this helps....

------------------
ED C.
"Doin' it for lives and property !"
http://members.aol.com/PT10FD/info.htm