Firefighters burn down old homes in Nipomo during live structure fire training

NIPOMO, Calif. -- CAL FIRE/San Luis Obispo County is holding a series of live fire drills in five old homes in Nipomo, which will all be burned down as part of the instructional training.

"We have been performing fire structure training for the week," said CAL FIRE captain Derek McTiernan. "We're doing live fire evolutions for each engine company that's coming in and we're simulating as real, as close as real conditions that we can get and get in crews to come in and perform that training for them."

The homes have been donated to the department by the landowners for the training opportunity, which will take place around the neighborhood of 1121 Division Street.

"This is a rare opportunity," said McTiernan. "Any time we can get a training opportunity like this for the crews and engine companies, it is an amazing opportunity to come out, simulate these conditions, and get as close to real live scenarios that we can get for these engine companies coming through."

In addition to CAL FIRE crews, other nearby agencies will are taking part in the multi-week training, including some from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

"We'll dispatch them out like they would coming out to a real fire," said McTiernan. "They have to go through their command and control process, size up the structure, give the report on conditions, and then provide the assignments and the tactical resources that they need to mitigate the hazard that's presented to them."

Leading up to the live training on Thursday, CAL FIRE has been preparing the homes for the past few days.

"We have prepped  them for a week," said McTiernan. "We are now coming in for two weeks of training for live fire structure training for engine companies throughout San Luis Obispo County."

The training in a controlled environment will provide firefighters with the opportunity to practice techniques and procedures for aggressively combating residential structure fires.

"This is invaluable," said CAL FIRE battalion chief Chad Fleming. "Being able to come out and have live fire cribs in a controlled setting like this is training that is hard to come by.  We're letting the engine companies practice their command and control skill sets, as well as task oriented firefighting, stretching lines, forceable entry, vertical ventilation, hose manipulation, just basically working on all of the firefighting skill sets that we employ with our firefighters."

The training will pause at the end of this week with no training drills scheduled for next week. Practice at the site will resume during the week of April 17.

Eventually, all five of the homes on the property will be burned to the ground.

Once the homes are destroyed, the landowners who are speaking with the county to potentially develop the property into future workforce housing.

The department said anyone living in the area who smells smoke during the drills are encouraged to take necessary precautions o ensure their own health and safety during the live fire training.