The purpose of the controlled burn was to give volunteer firefighters, like those pictured here, experience with live fire training; it also, officials said, allowed fire marshals to hone their investigation skills.
Chuck Thompson | Sampson Independent
City, county firefighters gets hands-on during controlled burn this week
Firefighters from Clinton and various Sampson County fire departments participate in a controlled room burn Wednesday evening on Beaman Street.
Chuck Thompson | Sampson Independent
The purpose of the controlled burn was to give volunteer firefighters, like those pictured here, experience with live fire training; it also, officials said, allowed fire marshals to hone their investigation skills.
Chuck Thompson | Sampson Independent
Firefighters from Clinton and various Sampson County fire departments participate in a controlled room burn Wednesday evening on Beaman Street.
The Clinton Fire Department practiced a controlled room-to-room burn exercise Wednesday evening, setting fire to different areas of a house located at 241 Beaman St. The structure was scheduled to be torn down after the training event.
The controlled room burn lasted until about 9 p.m., and involved firefighters from different departments across Sampson County.
Roughly 40 firefighters participated in the activity from Clinton, Herring, Salemburg, Turkey, Halls, and Taylors Bridge.
They started prepping for the fire earlier in the afternoon, cutting ventilation holes in the attic and roof, and planning the room-to-room fires before beginning the training exercise.
“Normally, when you burn a house, it could take a few hours, but since we’re not burning to the ground we’re going slower.” said Clinton Fire Chief Hagen Thornton as he watched the firefighters pulling hose and dosing flames.
Thornton said the house was offered for firefighting training before the demolition.
“We don’t see fires like we used to,” explained Thornton. “This allows them to experience a fire, while getting much needed training … to get experience on the nozzle that they don’t get to use that often.”
Fire marshals are also able to get some training during these type exercise, going in and doing an investigation to determine where the fire started.
“One team will light a room, and then we will go put it out with a different team, and vice versa, to give everyone a chance to learn more about fire causes, and practice putting the fire out and getting the smoke out of the house.”
The house was demolished after the training exercise, around midnight.
For anyone interested in becoming a firefighter, Thornton suggested finding a local fire department and talking to volunteers to learn more about joining.