Marshall firefighters practice necessary 'renovations' on doomed houses

Marshall firefighters use an ax Saturday, Oct. 4, to create a vent hole in the roof of a house in the 400 block of West Washington that is slated for demolition. The training session took advantage of the opportunity to practice on a structure, according to Assistant Fire Chief Tony Day. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

When homeowners decide to make changes to a house -- a wall should come out or a window should be converted into a door or a skylight would be nice -- they generally hire someone who makes the changes with deliberate care.

Firefighters sometimes have to make similar "adjustments" to structures, but when flames are roaring and every second counts, their "remodeling" efforts are not as measured as a carpenter's would be.

Still, it takes practice to know where to apply the ax or the chain saw. And local "on call" firefighters got an opportunity to practice their skills Saturday, Oct. 4.

The opportunity to work on an actual -- but not actively burning -- structure only comes along occasionally, according to Assistant Fire Chief Tony Day, but when it does, the department likes to give firefighters a chance to practice their "home improvement" skills.

Aaron Broaddus and Lucas Moore prepare to enter a house during firefighting training Saturday, Oct. 4. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Saturday a group of part-time firefighters were ripping down interior ceilings, cutting windows into door-sized openings and chopping vent holes in the roofs of three houses on West Washington Street that are slated for demolition.

It's important for firefighters to be able to do all those things fast because the lives of their fellow firefighters and sometimes the occupants of the dwelling may be at stake, he said.

The training session was supervised by Day, but training officer Ed Harper did most of the instruction and demonstration work.

The "on call" firefighters often do much of the debris removal work -- hard and necessary work, according to Day ("When the fire's out, that's when the work starts") -- but they need to be able to step in to do tasks the fulltime firefighters typically do, too.

Harper emphasized the care needed while doing such dangerous work as climbing on roofs that may be weakened by fire.

Mathaniel Mullins watches as Marshall Fire Department training officer Ed Harper demonstrates the use of a pike to pull down ceiling material. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"Everybody's a safety officer when you go up," he told the firefighters.

Participating in the training session were "on call" and fulltime firefighters, including Mathaniel Mullins of the Malta Bend Fire Department, Aaron Broaddus, Jimmy Hoffman, Bo Stanley, Herb Latchaw, Lucas Moore and Roger Gibson.

Contact Eric Crump at marshalleditor@socket.net

Aaron Broaddus trains a hose on the ceiling during the training session. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]