More than 40 new firefighters from across the state are in Danville today to take part in training exercises inside an abandoned house.
The new recruits began their day earlier Wednesday morning at the structure, which is located in the 900-block of Hazel Street, northwest of Danville High School. Danville Fire Lieutenant Chris McMahon says today’s exercise gives students the opportunity to participate in a live burn scenario.
“We gave them an acquired structure,” he says. “They’re doing live burns on the inside just like what we did with our department over on Madison Street last year. We’ll take the house down as soon as we’re all done training.”
McMahon says that the Illinois Fire Service Institute was originally planning on conducting the training exercise in Danville last fall, but that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the trainees are in four different groups, each doing a different task during the fire scenarios.
The training is expected to last until around 6 p.m. today. The city-owned structure will eventually be burned to the ground this afternoon as part of the training exercise.
