Naples portables to be used for fire training

BONNERS FERRY — South Boundary Fire District has been working with Boundary County School District to use old buildings as fire training exercises and education.

From June 25 to 27, the South Boundary Fire District had an Idaho State Fire Marshal's office representative put on an arson investigation class. The Naples portable building was used for the class, said South Boundary Fire Chief Tony Rohrwasser. The building was first checked for asbestos before the teaching began.

The firefighters built multiple rooms within the portable in order to create a teaching space to simulate an in-home fire. For the training props, such as couches, were set on fire and students would have to investigate where the fire originated.

“In the state of Idaho, you can’t burn a building,” Rohrwasser said. “But you can if it's been used for fire training, not just like, throw the matching and go kind of thing. But some kind of justified training.”

Rohrwasser said the plan was to burn down the portable after the class, but since it was during record heats, the demolition was postponed. He also said that due to the high winds and the proximity to Naples Elementary, burning the building was not an option in the summer.

The plan was revised to burn the building over Thanksgiving break. Rohrwasser said that gave the firefighters more time to train by doing wall breaches, which they rarely get to practice. Wall breaches are done by taking an axe to a wall and chopping through the wall to get to the other side.

“We really don’t do that until the very last minute, because of course now we've got junk all over the place, insulation out of the walls and holes everywhere,” he said.

After the Thursday, Nov. 18 night training the fire district waited until Sunday, Nov. 21 to burn the portable. Rohrwasser said that fortunately it was a very controllable burn. He said that the fire district packed in as much training as they could with the portables.

Many of the exercises and training like wall breaches and fire investigation is not something that the district can do just anywhere, he said. And these types of situations when on a call are what firefighters need to be prepared for, but may not always have enough practice in. Rohrwasser said this all goes back to the motto “practice until you can’t get it wrong.”

Boundary County School District commented on the improvements happening at Naples Elementary. BCSD continues to make improvements following their 10-year Facilities Plan. Last week, South Boundary Fire Protection completed training to remove the oldest module on the Naples campus, said BCSD officials in a press release.

The state has approved the use of federal dollars to continue making improvements for safety and health reasons. The district is currently in the planning stages of designing an addition to the main building so all students are in one building. By doing so, cleaning and maintaining the building will be more efficient and safe, district officials said

To continue projects at the school, the district is working to pass a bond to increase pedestrian and traffic safety. At the same time BCSD officials said they are working with the county on a grant to finalize the pedestrian and traffic safety routes.

The district is also working on leasing the old Naples Elementary School to South Boundary Fire Protection. Originally the building was scheduled to be demolished last summer, but it has sentimental value to the Naples community and the fire protection district can use the space to serve the public.

Last summer, the office area was renovated. BCSD will be replacing exterior doors and looking at how to protect the building from drainage issues. Once the addition is complete, the portable will be removed.

“We are excited to see the improvements moving forward,” said BCSD Superintendent Jan Bayer in a press release.