Exeter Fire Department Conducts Live Fire Training

Exeter, NH - October 17th, 2023: As many of you are aware by now, our firefighters had a rare opportunity to conduct live fire training at an empty house at 170 Epping Road on Saturday.

We say rare because the last time our firefighters were able to participate in live fire training here in Exeter was some 20 years ago.

“It’s unique to have a building that we can use for live fire training that’s safe to enter, that doesn’t have holes in the floor, and that has an adequate water supply nearby without crossing the street. It met all of the requirements for safe training,” Chief Eric Wilking said.

Firefighters often don’t have an opportunity to see a fire from start to finish, but this training gave them a chance to witness fire behavior by watching the fire and heat build and roll across the ceiling in the initial phases.

“Often when we get there it’s already vented out the window and then we’re just trying to catch it and put it out. Here we were able to actually be in the room, watch the fire build and then take action to try to extinguish the fire,” Chief Wilking said.

Nearly a dozen different fires were set throughout the house during the training exercise, some of which required firefighters to assess the building from the outside, enter, search for occupants, locate the fire, and put it out.

“We’re trying to simulate what would happen if the company left the fire station on a routine alarm or a reported building fire, and how they would set up so that they can build muscle memory, that crew cohesion and who’s going to do what. This allows us to do that under controlled conditions and it gives people who have not had an opportunity to work a hose line or the nozzle or do search and rescue in several months an opportunity to refresh those skills,” Chief Wilking said.

The firefighters learned some invaluable lessons, especially when they were inside and were able to see for themselves how the fires developed.

“They saw how quickly opening the door and the air affects the fire,” Deputy Chief Donald Matheson said.

The training was a big undertaking that involved a lot of planning and prep work by Deputy Chief Matheson, who serves as the department’s fire training officer. In addition to ensuring that all rules and regulations were followed for such an exercise, some of the work included hanging drywall to replace walls that had to be removed prior to the training because they contained asbestos.

Once all of the training exercises were completed, the house was allowed to burn to the ground with our firefighters standing by to monitor, ensuring that it burned safely and any grassy areas that caught fire were quickly extinguished.

We would again like to thank the owner of the property, which will be part of the Gateway at Exeter development, for allowing us to use this building for training. We are also grateful for the assistance from Hampton Fire/Rescue and the Stratham Fire Department, which covered us during this exercise; the East Kingston Fire Department for staffing the Seacoast Chief Fire Officers Mutual Aid District’s mobile air unit; Exeter Public Works and Water Department for providing a sign board; and Exeter Lumber for help with supplies.