BLOOMINGTON– The Bloomington Fire Department (BFD) will be conducting a controlled live burn training at 1213 South High Street Tuesday through Friday of this week.
Already slated for demolition, the two-story house at that address was donated to the BFD as an opportunity to conduct live-fire training. All of the required permits for the training have been granted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). In compliance with state and federal requirements, all utilities have been disconnected and household items removed, including furniture, carpeting, asphalt roofing shingles, roofing underlayment, and vinyl siding.
Structure firefighting is a complex, high-risk, low-frequency event, with multiple variables interacting simultaneously. This training opportunity will allow BFD firefighters to bring together all the individual structure firefighting skills in a controlled environment that demonstrates realistic fire dynamics with a specific and manageable fuel load. A particularly significant opportunity for new firefighters recently hired to replace those retiring, this training will allow crews to hone their practiced skills on hose lays, hose and water deployment, extinguishment, search and rescue, and ladder deployment.
BFD provides fire prevention services and responds to medical, rescue, and fire emergencies in the Bloomington community. Bloomington is the first city in the state to receive a Class 1/1x rating for its protection of incorporated areas from the Insurance Service Office, Inc (ISO). This ranking, ISO’s highest Public Protection Classification, places Bloomington among the top 0.2 % of communities in the state and the top 0.5% in the nation. The second improvement in Bloomington’s classification since the start of 2016, the score reflects rapid response times, excellent fire equipment/technology, above-adequate water pressure and volume, and a state-of-the-art dispatch center. There have been zero fire-caused fatalities within city limits in four years.
