Published: July 14, 2006

WESTWOOD — These firefighters came to Boyd County to eat smoke. On purpose.

“Your blood’s still pumping, but this is a chance to really see it, the fire, because it’s a controlled burn,” said Travis McHenry.

McHenry, clutching his Grayson Volunteer Fire Department gear outside a two-story home on Hoods Creek Pike, would get that face-to-face chance.

So would 65 other firefighters who gathered for “live burn” training.

They attract attention because they’re few and far between.

“We probably go 25 weekends out of the year and burn somewhere in the state,” said Mark Hammond, Area 10 training coordinator here for the State Fire Commission.

And, because they’re such good classrooms.

“It’s training the guys just can’t get anywhere else,” said Brent Webster, fire chief for Westwood, the host department. “This is the real thing.”

Firefighters formed five-man teams, then rotated into the wood-framed house a group at a time. Training started in an upstairs room where a fire was set, Hammond said.

“We take them in, show them how it behaves; they watch it grow, then they knock it out,” he said. Then, another group repeats, each accompanied by an instructor who sets another fire.

“We’ll do anywhere from 10 to 15 burns per room,” Hammond said.

Among many things firefighters learn is, first, how to find a fire and how to advance a hose line as you make your way to it, Webster said.

And, while “burn towers,” which are special training centers many departments build, are important, Hammond said, nothing beats seeing how a blaze makes its way across a ceiling or into the paneling and drywall.

“You get the heat, the thick black smoke,” Webster said. “There’s times in a house you can’t even see your hand in front of your face.”

Westwood has hosted maybe 15 to 20 live burns over the years, he said, and will likely keep doing them.

“One of the best things is it brings all these departments together, to work together,” Webster said.

A normal fire, say on a single-story home, would typically take three departments so it’s important to train together, he said.

Firefighters from Greenup, Boyd, Lawrence and Carter counties and from neighboring West Virginia, representing a dozen or more departments, converged in the training — which went on despite a severe thunderstorm that rolled through the area as it began.

Boyd County EMS remained on standby at the scene, in place in case of any problems as well as working a “rehab tent” for firefighters who might suffer from the heat.

“We do rehab at every burn because 50 percent of fire deaths occur because of exhaustion, not burns,” Hammond said.

Student EMTs from Ashland Community and Technical College also took advantage of the training opportunity.

They staffed the rehab tent, checked blood pressures and monitored firefighters and learned a lot, said student Jamie Kimmle, who’s also an East Fork volunteer.

“It’s something that can’t be done by computer,” she said.

ALLEN BLAIR can be reached at ablair@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.