Fire Department to Train with Practice Fire near Hillsborough
Smoke may be visible into the evening on Feb. 24; the public is invited to watch
Orange Rural Fire Department will train with a practice fire next Saturday, Feb. 24, just east of Hillsborough. The public is welcome to watch from a safe distance.
The training will be performed on a house struck by lightning last summer, 1216 St. Mary’s Road, north of U.S. 70 by Churton Grove Center. The owners donated the house for fire training after insurers advised demolishing the structure.
The Fire Department plans to be on site by 8 a.m. and to begin the practice fire by 9 a.m. Training should be complete by 4 p.m. Smoke may be present into the evening. Firefighters will remain on site until assured that no rekindling or fire spread can occur.
The live fire will allow Orange Rural to train on:
- Structural fire suppression.
- Fire behavior.
- Teamwork associated with multiple crews and hose teams working on one structure.
- Pump operation.
- Firefighter water supplies.
- Ventilation.
- Salvage — to protect property and belongings from damage.
- Overhaul — to ensure a fire is extinguished.
Anyone wishing to watch the fire training must stay outside a fire line perimeter that the department will establish to keep spectators at a safe distance from the structure.
Orange Rural Fire Chief Jeff Cabe said those viewing can expect to see “organized chaos, firefighters entering and exiting the structure, smoke and flames visible from any openings in the structure and eventually the entire structure.”
The department, which the Town of Hillsborough contracts with for fire service, relies on members of the community allowing it to train on structures scheduled for demolition. It does not have a burn room — an engineered structure where firefighters can train with a live fire — but is making plans to build a training facility.
Dilapidated buildings provide new firefighters with training on fire behavior, fire control and how to work as safely as possible when responding to actual emergencies. The last live fire training Orange Rural performed was in 2019 on the former Russell’s Steakhouse on South Churton Street.
“We’d love to have two to three annually but are lucky to get any,” Cabe said, “so we go to Chapel Hill and utilize their burn building for the basics.”
Learn more about practice fires through the video Live Burn Training, available on the town’s YouTube channel.
