Firefighters light blaze for training

WASILLA — Firefighters smiled, joked and took group pictures Saturday while a house slowly burned to cinders and ashes behind them.

On any other day, at any other house, this would have been cause for concern. While the mood Saturday morning was certainly serious, it wasn’t because anyone was in imminent danger. In fact, firefighters had been preparing to respond to this particular house fire for months, said Central Mat-Su Fire Department Lt. Roy Roistacher.

“We’ve controlled all the vent spaces, all the windows,” he said. “We’ve removed all the asbestos — though this house didn’t have any asbestos.”

Saturday’s fire was a seldom-seen (for borough firefighters) controlled burn. The burns are few and far in between — Central has held three in the last 11 years — because the permitting process is extensive, and because taking a large number of firefighters off of active duty for a daylong training exercise poses a logistical problem. The burn is so unusual that it drew firefighters all the way from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage to participate

The general idea behind controlling the windows and vent spaces was to prevent injuring any firefighters while teaching them to fight fires, Roistacher said. For example, several sections of the house were re-constructed to make sure they didn’t burn through under firefighters’ feet.

The training exercise differs in many respects from the average house fire, which breaks out without warning, but which is sometimes faced by fewer personnel, according to Roistacher. The absence of Class B materials, or combustible liquids like gasoline, also meant the residence burned differently than the average fire. The goal is to eliminate things like flash fires and backdrafts.

“The first thing that makes it different is we have the time to set this up,” he said. “We don’t run into a structure fire and have this kind of time. This would be considered also a legacy fire. This is all carbon-based, wood, class A.”

“The heat release of a modern fire is so much more,” Roistacher added.

While burning down a house might appear deceptively simple, everything firefighters did Saturday was dictated by National Fire Protection Association code 1403:Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions. Bottom line: don’t try this at home.

Safety is critical in part because fire prep had already caused one injury in the form of a sprained ankle for one unlucky firefighter who had been helping to prep the house for Saturday’s main event.

“Our primary concern with this building is vertical extension,” Capt. Michael Beebe told assembled fire crew officers at a safety briefing. He was referring to the possibility of fire spreading to the ceiling trusses and the roof, which wasn’t able to support the weight of a single firefighter Saturday.

“If we can’t get that suppressed to the point where we feel that it’s safe, we’re done, we’re going to light it off and let it go, O.K.?” he said. “That roof is rotten already, those trusses are really dry. It’s rough-cut timber. It’s going to go up like a matchstick if it gets up in there.”

The house’s owner, Vladmir Martushev, donated the house for burning after discovering what a new roof would likely cost. His children lived in the house for a few years, but it would be cheaper to build a new house than to demolish the existing structure.

“I spoke with the captain (and asked) if they can burn it … so that’s why you see all this commotion,” he said, gesturing to the half-dozen emergency vehicles and dozens of firefighters milling about his property.

Firefighters also honored Assistant Fire Chief Ken Barkley, who turned 50 years old Friday, with a banner and two wax birthday candles attached to the outside of the house, which were ignited shortly before the emergency drills, which included fire evolution, fire attack and search, and a rapid intervention crew (firefighters who rescue other firefighters) drills. The drills concluded about 4 p.m.

The birthday candles “were just to mess with me,” he said. “Firefighter love to joke around.”

Many of the firefighters involved in Saturday’s drill were newcomers, Barkley said.

“For fire fighters to get a realistic fire before they get in that situation is the best thing you’re ever gonna get,” he said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.