Bridgeport Fire Department has used its new burn facility several times for departmental training, but for the first time it has been utilized to train those aspiring to be firefighters.

 

“We’re doing a Firefighter 1 class in Midway, West Virginia and we brought them down here Sunday to use our burn building to do search and rescue training, hose line advancement, ladder operations and those kind of things,” said Bridgeport Firefighter Scott Wilburn, who along with Jimmy Glascock teaches classes through RESA 7.

 

That area encompasses Harrison, Doddridge, Taylor and several other counties, he said.

 

Twelve students, most from Lewis County and one each from Flemington and Taylor County took part in Sunday’s training, which lasted from about 9 a.m. to nearly 7 p.m.

 

During that time, they had their first experience in a live burn situation.

 

“We went through it multiple times,” said Wilburn, adding that each drill became more intense.

 

During some runs, theatrical smoke was used.

 

“If the students panicked and ripped off their face pieces, the smoke would not hurt them,” he said.

 

Ultimately, the drill was done with real smoke – referred to as smudge barrel.

 

“There’s no fire, but it fills the whole building with smoke,” Wilburn said.

 

Before getting the burn building, live burn training was often done at Gore or at an abandoned house.

 

“We would try to find a house within the area and smoke it up,” Wilburn said.

 

Needless to say, the new burn building is much more convenient and efficient.

 

“If we used a house, there were things we had to do to it as required by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations,” Wilburn said. “That takes a little bit of time and we couldn’t always find a house. With the burn building being here now, we don’t have to do anything to it.”

 

There was a class out of Buckhannon scheduled to use the facility recently, but that training event was canceled due to heavy snowfall, Wilburn said.

 

Wilburn and Glasscock’s class continues this week with a session on Thursday, more burn training on Sunday and firefighting testing next week.

 

“Hazmat operations is now part of Firefighter 1 training,” Wilburn said. “So as soon as they test for firefighter, we spend three days doing hazmat operations.”

 

Wilburn has been a firefighter for 31 years and a paid member of Bridgeport Fire Department for 25 years. For 20 years, he has been teaching through RESA. He is also a member of the Anmoore Volunteer Fire Department. That department will also be utilizing the burn building.

 

“Individual departments can pay a yearly fee to use it anytime during the year when it’s available and Anmoore has already paid the fee and is going to use it,” Wilburn said.

 

His Bridgeport shift has utilized the burn building for training purposes several times.

 

“We’ve lit a fire and put it out probably four or five times and the other departments have also,” he said.

 

Editor's Note: Top/cover photo, taken during Sundays training, is courtesy of WDTV. Pictured just above are members of Bridgeport Fire Department utilizing the building for their own training purposes. That photo is by Michelle Duez.