Area Fire Departments Participate in Controlled House Burn Near Twin Valley

Twin Valley, MN — You may have noticed heavy smoke and a house on fire south of Twin Valley this weekend, but it wasn’t an emergency situation…it was a training exercise. A number of area fire departments took part in a controlled house burn this Saturday a few miles south of Twin Valley along Highway 32 that provided an opportunity for the newest members to get some real-world training. Lee Soeth, Fire Instructor with Minnesota State Community & Technical, says in this particular burn, they went over many of the basics such as the proper tools and equipment they’d be using as well as getting them used to a smoke and fire environment.

The controlled burn also provides a unique aspect for the firemen. Soeth says they normally examine a fire from the end result, but in this case, they get see how it actually started.

There are also Level 2 and Level 3 controlled burn scenarios that up the degree of difficulty and realism. In a Level 2 training, firemen will start outside the home and have to find the fire and in a Level 3 training they’ll essentially start from the fire station.   

Just like in the real world, conditions can make controlled burn difficult to undertake, but Soeth says this weekend was about as ideal as it could have been.

Soeth also noted that due to regulations and supply, these controlled house burns don’t happen very often anymore, so when they get the opportunity they usually team up with area departments to get as many firefighters trained as possible.

Once they are finished with the exercises, they relight the structure and let it burn all the way to the ground. In this instance it took about 45 minutes.

Fire Crews from Twin Valley, Ada, Gary, Halstad, Hendrum, Shelly, Beltrami, and Fosston all took part in the training.

Listen to the full interview with Lee Soeth below: