Bridgeport Fire Department had a unique opportunity Friday morning as crews trained at a vacant house on Olive Street.

 

“This is a great opportunity,” said Bridgeport Fire Lt. Keith Linger. “All these guys are apprentices that have been here three years or less, ranging from Byers who is ready to test and finish application to Turner, whose only been here for two months.”

 

Apprentices taking part in the training were Zach Byers, Jonathan Turner, Mark Jefferies and Matt Bartlett. 

 

The home on Olive Street is scheduled for demolition and owner Mike Straight offered to let the department utilize it for live fire training in the meantime.

 

“We’ve had the smoke machine going all morning,” Linger said. “We did an evacuation drill and they found the victim and got him out. We had guys who were able to help on the outside, as well as the guys inside.”

 

Bridgeport Fire Department trains regularly in their “burn building,” located behind the Main Street fire station. That training is valuable, but the type of training done Friday is needed too.

 

“That’s because every house is laid out differently. Some along the same street that were built about the same time might have similar layouts, but those on the other side of town are different,” Linger said. “They know the layout of the burn building, but here, they don’t know anything. They get to practice skills they don’t get to use every day.”