Crawford Venango Fire School from The Meadville Tribune on Vimeo.

Click image for slideshow

By Ryan Smith

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

COCHRANTON — Black smoke billowed skyward, visible blocks away from the burning structure.

On scene, the blazing inferno fed hungrily off of what was left of the house, finally causing it to collapse in a massive heap.

“Get on this line over here,” directed Chip Chiappazzi, chief of Harborcreek Volunteer Fire Department, to a group of young firefighters standing on alert near the hose.

When it comes to training firefighters, there’s nothing like the real thing. And the structural burn course at Sunday’s Crawford - Venango Counties Fire School offered just that.

Chiappazzi, one of the state’s fire instructors for the school, said 26 students from seven different fire departments around the region participated in the course, part of the two-day annual school. Now in its 47th year, the school was attended by more than 200 firefighters taking a wide range of courses on topics including automotive extrication, gas and oil well emergencies, vehicle operations and fire investigations.

Many of those courses take firefighters above and beyond their required 188 hours of essential training, said Chiappazzi.

Those involved in the structural burn course at a donated vacant house in Cochranton were taken out of the classroom to get a first-hand, up-close lesson in what it takes to safely and effectively extinguish a blaze.

During the course, instructors set dozens of controlled burns to replicate situations that happen in real structure fires. Students are separated into teams that are tasked with duties including controlling hoses, entering the structure with thermal imaging cameras to check for hot-spots, overseeing safety and providing additional equipment and assistance when needed.

Many of the students are relative newcomers to firefighting, while others are longtime veterans looking to offer their experience.