St. Stephens Firefighters Conduct Live Structure Burn
By Assistant Chief Chris Wise
October 8, 2012
St. Stephens Firefighters conducted a live structure burn on September 29th, 2012. Members of the department gathered to train to better protect the St. Stephens community and also each other. The burn took place at a vacant home on Houston Mill Road. Traffic was slowed down near the burn site due to apparatus placement in the roadway, but firefighters were there to assist. With today's economy, structures to burn are few and far between. The St. Stephens Fire Department loves to utilize old and abandoned structures to help train our firefighters to better serve our community. We were able to get many burns and much needed training to help our department train for real life scenarios that occur daily. The St. Stephens Fire Department utilizes two CAFS (Compressed Air Foam Systems) on our apparatus. This system utilizes air, water, and foam in the hose lines instead of water only. This allows our firefighters to put out fires much quicker, more efficiently, and with less water damage to the structure and its contents. In addition, the hose lines are lighter and more maneuverable and do not fatigue the firefighters as much as traditional hose lines.
We would like to thank the owners of the structure for donating it for us to train for several months before the structure burn took place. If you have an old structure that you would like to donate to us for training purposes please give us a call at 256-2375 or email us at info@ssvfd4.org.