Firefighters from several local fire departments participated in a joint training and controlled burn near the township of Evanston. The house, located at 2681 245th St., was offered to the Duncombe Volunteer Fire Department by owners Sharie and Daniel Ball.

“We were able to get some good training out of it,” said Duncombe Fire Chief Todd Bingham.

Bingham said he invited all the fire departments across the county to the training, as well as Webster City Fire Department and the fire science program at Iowa Central Community College.

The firefighters spent the first half of the day running training drills inside the house, using small fires inside.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Todd Bingham, fire chief for the Duncombe Volunteer Fire Department, gives a debrief after one of the training drills on Saturday.

“We had two scenarios set up in the house,” Bingham explained. “One was an upstairs bedroom fire.”

That scenario was a little easier he said, set for beginners and firefighters who had not been in any or very many fires yet. He said they had about five firefighters with less than six months of experience on a fire department training with them.

“We were able to let those people see kind of how the fire evolves and grows,” Bingham said. “We’d knock it down a little bit and let it grow again so they can see the different stages of it.”

The second training scenario was a simulated basement fire with a “firefighter down” drill, to train the firefighters on how to locate and recover an incapacitated firefighter during a fire.

The Duncombe Volunteer Fire Department hosted the training, and was joined by firefighters from Vincent, Otho, Lehigh, Dayton, Webster City and Iowa Central. The firefighters were divided into groups, intermixing the different departments. This helps the departments get to know one another, as oftentimes multiple rural departments will be called out to assist others.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of several local fire departments work together in a simulated "firefighter down" training at a house in rural Webster County on Saturday.

“If it’s something that would benefit us, it would benefit neighboring departments as well, so that’s when we invited everybody in the county because (controlled structure fires) are hard to come by,” Bingham said.

Between training drills, firefighters from different departments would sit around chatting with each other and enjoying the pulled-pork lunch.

At the end of the training, the house was set ablaze for a controlled burn. It took over two hours for the flames to consume the two-story house as the firefighters and a few family members and friends sat nearby to watch.

Bingham said he tries to have a training event like Saturday’s as often as possible, but it usually ends up being every two years.

“It seems to be how often we get houses,” he said. “We do train on something at least once a month, but the live burns are a little harder to do.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of local volunteer fire departments feed a hose into a house being used for training on Saturday. The house at 2681 245th St. in rural Webster County was burned in a controlled burn after the training was completed.

Bingham said he is thankful for the Ball family for donating the house.

“I think we got a lot of really good training out of it,” he said. “And this is training that we can’t really do anywhere else, so it was good to have here.”

Although the firefighters all work for different departments, they recognize that they’re all on the same team. And while part of Saturday’s training was set on teaching and practicing firefighting skills, it was also meant to build on the camaraderie among the departments.

“It really doesn’t matter what name is on the back of our coat at the end of the day,” Bingham said. “We’re all there for a common goal.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A Duncombe firefighter climbs the ladder to the second floor of the house being used for training and a controlled burn on Saturday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of the Webster City Fire Department watch as flames build in a controlled burn of a house in rural Webster County on Saturday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The second story of a house at 2681 245th St. in rural Webster County fills with flames during a controlled burn with the Duncombe Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday. Owners Sharie and Daniel Ball donated the house for the department to use as a training tool.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Duncombe Fire Chief Todd Bingham is joined by his 12-year-old son, Ty Bingham, as the two watch the fire of a controlled burn build momentum on Saturday afternoon.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of the Duncombe Volunteer Fire Department suit up for a training drill on Saturday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of the Webster City Fire Department take a rest during a multi-department training at a house in rural Webster County on Saturday.