BEISEKER, Alta. – When Ward Kisko was called out to his first fire, he and his fellow volunteer firefighters couldn’t find the blaze.
He opened a closet door in a smoke-filled house and was knocked back when the flames roared out at him.
Volunteer firefighters face similar dangers as full-time, well paid big city colleagues, but with less glory. They receive the same training and certification, which gives them large responsibilities and small annual honorariums. But it isn’t money that lures them to volunteer fire and rescue services in their communities.
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“I just wanted to help my town,” said Joe Haacke of Beiseker, who works for the City of Calgary’s bridge maintenance department.
He has been a volunteer for five years as the Beiseker fire department’s apparatus operator, ensuring that pumper trucks, tankers and other equipment are working properly.
While they are able to participate in provincial fire training programs through Lakeland College, real life drills are harder to come by.
When Kenton and Joan Ziegler of Beiseker approached three rural fire departments about burning down an old house for training purposes, 20 members from Beiseker, Rockyford and Rosebud jumped at the chance.
The 100-year-old farmhouse had weathered too many years of wear and tear, including toxic mould in two of the rooms. Rather than renovate, the Zieglers decided to have it burned down and start from scratch in a cleaned-up yard with a new house.
Kenton had toyed with the idea of burning the place himself but decided to let the professionals do a controlled burn.
“We donated it because it was an opportunity to learn,” he said.
House fires do not happen that often for these crews. Most of their work is fighting grass, barn, shed and vehicle fires, said fire chief Wayne Clyne of Rockyford, who works as a heavy duty mechanic.
Another challenge is finding enough people to join local units in small communities.
“When you have 850 people in your village, it’s hard, so we have limitations,” said Kisko, who is captain of the Beiseker department, which receives about 60 calls per year.
He said the opportunity to burn down the Zieglers’ house in Beiseker was useful.
“They are a dedicated bunch of guys. They can take the training but we have trouble getting real life experience.”
The house is a bungalow today but was once a three storey home ordered from the Eaton’s catalogue. The renovated building consisted of many small rooms with nooks and crannies, which Clyne said made it an ideal challenge for training.
The day started with a rescue mission in which the volunteers suited up with full gear, including oxygen tanks, and entered the smoke-filled house to find a dummy hidden in the house.
“Oh man, you can’t see nothing in there,” said Lon St. Jean of Rockyford, who is a pyrotechnician in a fireworks factory.
He helped the volunteers check their air tank pressure before entering the building and provided instructions on conducting a rescue on hands and knees to find possible victims.
After the rescue they practiced opening a vent in the roof using axes and chainsaws.
Once ignited using diesel fuel, the house was soon engulfed in flames, throwing off intense heat and billows of smoke. The volunteers kept a close watch to ensure the fire did not light the surrounding tall grass or send burning debris onto other buildings.
The fire was designed so the house would fall into the centre, burying debris in the partial basement.
