PORT TOWNSEND — East Jefferson Fire Rescue plans a firefighter training house burn at 10 Sixth St. on Saturday.
They will be joined by State Patrol crime lab technicians, who will conduct forensics experiments in the house before it is burned to the ground, said Bill Beezley, department spokesman.
Deputy Chief Ted Krysinski said in a prepared statement that the burn will focus primarily on live fire exercises for firefighters.
“We’ll have two areas of concentration: external, defensive firefighting tactics and what we call ‘interface structural protection,’ or protecting structures from surrounding vegetation and foliage fires,” he said.
“Washington State Labor and Industries firefighter safety standards require live fire training annually and we use these donated houses to fulfill this requirement,” Krysinski added.
Crime lab representatives will conduct experiments similar to those from last month’s house burn on Sheridan Street.
For this burn, they will plant evidence before the burn and then comb through the ashes after the fire is out to evaluate residual DNA and other forensic substances on the planted evidence.
In accordance with Olympic Region Clean Air Act demolition requirements, the Port Townsend paper mill, which donated the house, abated it for asbestos prior to making it available for the training burn.
“We appreciate the mill providing us with this training opportunity,” Krysinski said.
“We’re always looking for house donations to keep our firefighters at the top of their game.”
