Beaver Dam Fire hosts training exercise
Daily Citizen – By Terri Pederson – March 12, 2022
Five area fire departments benefited from a hands on training exercise that was held outside of Beaver Dam Saturday.
Five area fire departments benefited from a hands on training exercise that was held outside of Beaver Dam Saturday.
Fire departments from around Dodge County met at W8172 Ollinger Road on Saturday including: Beaver Dam, Burnett, Fox Lake, Horicon and Juneau were at the former home.
“We are outside of the city, we don’t have water supply,” Beaver Dam Fire Chief Michael Wesle said.
The other fire departments also brought apparatus and water tenders to help keep the area safe and train.
“The newer members are really getting a feeling what it will be like the first time they go in and really fight a fire,” Wesle said.
The structures on the property were already scheduled for demolition as part of a housing project that is slated for development in spring. A development agreement with Neumann Developments of Pewaukee was approved by the council in September. Approximately 60 single-family lots are planned on the land that sits near the YMCA of Dodge County and the Corporate Drive business park.
“The city of Beaver Dam does not have a dedicated training facility, so we do not have the ability to practice firefighting in a real environment, so Neumann Properties, who will be developing this property, was gracious enough to allow us to train not only today, but for the last several weeks doing training on the grounds.”
Some of the training that was done was ventilation training, search and rescue and other skills needed by fire fighters.
“Today what we are focusing on is fire suppression,” Wesle said.
The house was inspected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to ensure there were no environmental hazards, Wesle said.
“The main goal today is not to burn down the house,” Wesle said. “We have up to 17 sets in the house (including hay or cardboard).”
Wesle said they placed newer firefighters in the room when the fires were ignited so they would learn about fire behavior.
