Fire department trains with LCC-built models

DELTA TWP - Delta Township firefighters fought the smallest house fire of their careers on Monday.

As part of a training exercise on the often-overlooked aspects of combating a structure fire, Delta officials visited Lansing Community College's west campus to set fire to 3-foot by 3-foot model house built by a class of LCC architecture students.

Firefighters witnessed first-hand how even small measures, such as opening a door or breaking a window, can drastically impact the severity of an ongoing fire, said Captain Ken Van Hall.

A training session on fire behavior last fall served as the motivation to conduct Monday’s controlled burn, said Van Hall, who organizes training for the department. Delta officials approached LCC and asked if students could construct model residences with removable shutters for training purposes.

Instructors varied the amount of oxygen allowed into the model house in order to show how fires can shift and change dramatically with even with the smallest changes to the environment.

“We’re not fighting our grandfather’s fires,” Van Hall said. Increased structural stability and the abundance of synthetic products in homes means fires will often burn themselves out inside a home before the structure itself is compromised. Adding oxygen by throwing open doors or breaking windows can make things worse in many cases, he added.

An abundance of new research on fire behavior means staff are continually learning about new and more effective ways to minimize fire damage, Van Hall said. The department will conduct two additional demonstrations using the other models built by LCC students at their fire hall.

“We’re training our staff more as technicians, not just as firefighters,” he added.

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.