Fire crews practice on 2 homes in Zelie
ZELIENOPLE — Volunteer firefighters had the opportunity this past weekend to train on two borough houses.
The houses on Clay Street were bought in April by the borough as part of its Main Street Revitalization project. The properties are among five that will be leveled and made into a municipal parking lot next year.
“We don't get an opportunity to train like this often,” said Capt. Brian Dambaugh, who led the organization efforts. “Especially not in Zelienople.”
More than 20 volunteer firefighters from Zelienople, Harmony and Evans City participated as well as some crews from Allegheny County.
Eight instructors from Mercer, Beaver and Allegheny counties led the training.
“We had a classroom portion before this too,” Dambaugh said.
The rain on Saturday did not interfere with the training but made the burning particularly noticeable in the borough.
“It's a hindrance because (the rain) keeps the smoke low to the ground,” Dambaugh said. “Normally it would go up into the air and away.”
Dambaugh said the chance to practice on two houses was more beneficial than at other fire training facilities, which typically include a hollow blocked structure to practice on.
“The dynamics of a house are a lot different,” he said, adding fires can spread a variety of ways inside a house.
Firefighters practiced on different rooms of the two-story houses, but they did not burn the entire structures down.
“If we did that, they would smolder throughout the night,” Dambaugh said. “It would make the town stink.”
Crews took extra precautions to make sure the training was safe, including walk-throughs of the homes before training and having extra fire trucks.
Firefighters during the training responded to the scene just as they would to an actual fire call.“We're practicing rolling in,” Dambaugh said. “It's more realistic than having all the hoses and everything set up when the fire starts.”Crews rushed down Clay Street with sirens on before setting up to fight the fires in the houses.Dambaugh said the training was a good chance for firefighters to practice with compressed air foam, which the department recently added to its arsenal.“It's a lot different from water,” he said.The training was a good effort for the Harmony and Zelienople fire departments, which will merge next year to form the Harmony Fire District.“That process is essentially complete,” Dambaugh said.The merger is intended to allow the new company to better serve the area by combining the departments' resources and manpower. Everything will be combined and the new membership will elect new officers before Jan. 1.Jackie and James Rosenbaum watched the training from their front porch across the street along with their three boys, Judah and Jackson, both 4, and James, 1.Jackson sat in his mother's lap awe-struck, wearing a plastic firefighter helmet.“They just had 911 emergency week at preschool so they're all about this,” Jackie Rosenbaum said.The mother said the training was “pretty cool” to see for herself as well, but said the heavy smoke was certainly noticeable.“We have candles burning inside the house to cover up the smell,” she said.The fire departments checked each of the five houses to be demolished as possible training sites, but tests on the houses revealed three have asbestos.Each of the houses will be demolished to make way for the borough's new parking lot, which will have 159 to 170 spaces for vehicles, walkways and access to Main Street.The borough in December received a $3 million state grant for its revitalization project, which includes a number of other infrastructure improvements, including work on the Kaufman House.
