Inferno creates a classroom for firefighters, reporters

Media members were given the rare opportunity to step in the boots of Carson City's firefighters Wednesday as they burned an abandoned Kings Canyon house during a training session.

With newspaper and television journalists in tow, firefighters performed smoke-blinded evacuation and rescue drills. They even witnessed a small back draft that blew out several windows and caused minor burns to two firefighters.

Reporters watched as a dried Christmas tree was lit. A minute later a whole wing of the house - once occupied by Paul Laxalt and the Davis family - was shooting 1,000-degree flames.

Dummy Christmas presents and plastic decorations were quickly reduced to ashes as the heat sent gaseous clouds billowing across the room. The heat ignited a sofa and chair donated by Friends In Service Helping, a local second-hand store. Training Officer Dan Shirey said the room needed to be at least 450 degrees to cause the furniture to burst into flames.

"I couldn't have guessed that it would go up like that," Shirey said afterward. "There was no fuel on that fire. It was just a dead Christmas tree."

Firefighters waited as long as they could before going to work on the fire, but some of the house had to be preserved for drills for other firefighters later this week. In a true scenario, firefighters might take more like three or four minutes to arrive on scene. For this house, that might have spelled total devastation.

"If we had arrived three minutes later, this could have been a defensive attack," said Battalion Chief Stacy Giomi.

Firefighters explained tactics for finding their ways in blinding smoke, locating victims and preventing explosive back drafts.

Once inside, they usually crawl, following walls to open doors and obvious victim locations like on top of a mattress or in a bathtub. Once located, an unconscious victim can be dragged out by harness. Firefighters can find their way out by following the fire hose.

Back drafts are prevented by cutting ventilation holes in the ceiling, allowing the heat to rise.

With the aid of two trained firefighters, I "worked the nozzle" bringing the hose to the interior where water would be needed. In thick smoke, from a smoke-maker, we located a victim, a 200-pound dummy, and dragged him out the way we came.

Breathing apparatus kept us from inhaling smoke, allowing us to stay in longer. In a real situation, this might mean another life saved.

After the one fire, all others were called off pending an Occupational Safety and Health Administration-mandated investigation of the injuries. Training will commence later this week, Shirey said.

The site was donated by developers Eugene and Dennis Lepire. It will soon be home to a 10-unit condominium complex. The house is scheduled to be burned to the ground on June 6.