Chappy Home Burns in Edgartown Fire Drill
Assistant fire chief Andrew Kelly coordinated the drill.
Assistant fire chief Andrew Kelly coordinated the drill.
Training drills took place room by room in the house.
Training drills took place room by room in the house.
Hay was used to set fire; the chief said the department was not allowed to use accelerants.
Hay was used to set fire; the chief said the department was not allowed to use accelerants.
Chief Peter Shemeth.
Chief Peter Shemeth.
Home owned by Self family is on property donated to land bank.
Home owned by Self family is on property donated to land bank.
Fire captain Peter Wells.
Fire captain Peter Wells.
Once home was engulfed, firefighters stood by to keep from spreading.
Once home was engulfed, firefighters stood by to keep from spreading.
Edgartown Fire Department gathers for a picture.
Edgartown Fire Department gathers for a picture.
Deputy chief Alex Schaeffer.
Deputy chief Alex Schaeffer.
Fire Lieut. Jake Sylvia simulates helping an injured firefighter.
Fire Lieut. Jake Sylvia simulates helping an injured firefighter.
Watching the burn.
Watching the burn.
Geared up.
Geared up.
The smoke, flames and heat emerging from an old home on Chappaquiddick's North Neck Sunday were real, but it was no emergency: the Edgartown fire department was ready and waiting to battle the blaze, part of a live training drill for the team.
The Cove Meadow home, once owned by the Self family and slated to be torn down, was on land donated to the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank. The Edgartown fire department was given the opportunity to burn the house down first as a training exercise.
The fire department tries to do one live burn drill a year, fire chief Peter Shemeth said, in addition to regular training.
“It's a great, great training opportunity to have some of the younger guys that don't get the chance...experience the heat, the flames, see what the fire does and how the fire reacts,” Chief Shemeth said. “It's a great tool.”
Given the remote North Neck landscape, “it was the perfect location for it,” he added.
Assistant fire chief Andrew Kelly worked on the complex process of coordinating the training drill and preparing for the burn, Chief Shemeth said. It was an all-day affair, with preparations beginning at 7:30 a.m. and work continuing until about 4 p.m. “It's a huge commitment for the guys and the department itself,” Chief Shemeth said.
The training drill simulates other aspects of fighting a fire, like the need for back-up. An Oak Bluffs crew was on stand-by at the Edgartown station in case of an emergency.
The drill was also weather dependent so the fire would not blow out of control and endanger other properties.
But Sunday was a fair day with perfect blue skies, and the Edgartown team gathered on Chappy with full gear and three or four fire trucks on hand. The fire was started with hay, and firefighters started and extinguished fires in each of the rooms before letting the house burn.
“I breathe a sigh of relief when it's over,” the chief said. “Everything went well, no one got hurt, everybody got a good experience out of it. Because of the fact that we're actually dealing with a live fire, things can go wrong. We made every effort to make it as safe as possible and as realistic as possible.”