Lifeless buildings that dot the Bull Street campus in Columbia have provided incredibly valuable practice for area first responders this month.
Flat roof ventilation is just one skill area fire crews are brushing up on at Columbia’s Bull Street property this month.
Since the week of September 10, 2018 close to 200 firefighters have been getting training in on the site thanks to Columbia-Richland Fire and Hughes Development Corporation.
“The realism and the unpredictability that we get from these buildings is far superior to our training grounds,” said Fire Captain Jason Joannides, who is with the department’s training division, “you can’t replicate this kind of stuff in training props.”
Hughes Development Corp. allowed the condemned buildings to be used for exercises. Crews with Lexington County Fire Service and Irmo Fire District have joined our department crews in training.
Firefighters have used the buildings to practice running hoses and roof ventilation, which involves cutting through the roof of a burning property. That allows heated gases, smoke and fire inside to escape.
For people who can be trapped inside a burning building, proper ventilation can be crucial.
“Smoke kills before the fire does,” Joannides said, “so by removing smoke contamination we give them a better chance of survival.”
Fire crews will continue their training on the Bull Street campus through the last week of September.
