The Perry Volunteer Fire Department was able to help out some local residents and take part in a training exercise this weekend when they conducted a controlled burn of a home early Saturday.
Chief Chris Hinds says the owners of the abandoned farm home at the corner of Highway 144 and 123rd Place asked the department if they would be willing to burn the building to the ground to help make the demolition process easier for them.
“There wasn’t a lot of training we could do as far as interior attacks on the house because of the condition of it but we were able to get a lot of good training from the outside. We had hose training. We had new people on the department that hadn’t had a chance to have a firehose in their hands, so they were able to get some experience. Those nozzles that we use have different adjustments and settings on them so it gives the new people a chance to experiment with those and find out what they do. Of course for the veterans on the department it’s kind of a refresher for them too.”
Hinds says they usually see between six and eight requests from residents to burn down buildings per year. They are not able to complete all of them for various reasons but the Chief says when it is doable, it’s a win-win for all involved.