Longview Fire Department ready to train with new facility

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - The Longview Fire Department has a new training tool: a “burn house” to simulate crises and gain hands-on practice.

The new fire training facility was funded through a bond election that voters approved in 2018. Fire Marshal Kevin May said the burn house lets them practice detailed scenarios.

“You see that we’ve got windows, we’ve got doors that can be opened and closed to help with smoke control, fire control, ventilation control,” May said, describing the first level. “If you’ll look towards the bottom of the concrete slab, you’ll see there are drain pipes, so that way when we have fire in here, once we extinguish it, that water has a place to run off, so we can prepare and reset for the next evolution.”

The structure also features a second floor to widen the range of possible exercises.

“We can use this level — let’s say we want to simulate that somebody has to be rescued out of a second-floor window or second-floor balcony,” May said. “We can practice throwing ladders up against this rail and then removing that victim, that patient, from that second floor.”

Firefighters can even make use of the rooftop, which has built-in anchors to allow them to rappel down and train for rope rescues.

“We’d just like to say thank you to the citizens of Longview for passing that bond election in 2018 because without their continuous support that they give the fire department, this building would not have been possible,” May concluded.

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