Firefighters watch as Vernon house burns down

Julia Wong, CHBC News : Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:40 PM 

Photo Credit: Julia Wong , CHBC News

Fire bursts through a window of a house on Dixon Dam Road in Vernon and smoke is billowing high into the sky, but even though there are between 16 and 20 firefighters from the BX Swan Lake Fire Department on scene, fire crews are not moving a muscle. Some firefighters watch the flames while others snap pictures of the blaze, but there is no need to worry because the incident has been set up as a training course for the fire crews.  The course is meant to better prepare crews when they are called to a real emergency. Fire chief Bill Wacey says that there is a fire training facility in the North Okanagan, however nothing beats practicing in a real house. “With all the ins and outs of constructions, it’s an older home so there’s different floors, there’s two to three different false ceilings in it, it allows us to go through the training in a safe manner,” Wacey said. BX Swan Lake firefighters have used the house to run through different scenarios they could face when confronting a blaze, such as firefighter exit strategies, a down firefighter, escape routes, fire suppression in attic crawl spaces and using thermal imaging cameras. Firefighters say practicing in a house instead of a facility gives the situations more realism, which ultimately gives them more confidence. “I’ve never been to a structure fire,” said Holly Haverkamp, who has only been with the fire department for one year. “This is a perfect experience for me. I’ll be ready to go if we ever get one.” “It’s not often that you get a chance to come to a house and just play out scenarios and od it in a drill fashion. Do it over and over and try to get good at them,” said David Dobernigg, who has been a firefighter for eight years. The house was donated to the fire department by Harold Schmidt, who, after the house is burned down completely, plans to re-build on the same property. “It can be used and people can learn and gain experiences in a burning house,” Schmidt said