Dalton firefighters train by burning donated house

Firefighters monitor burning house / Dalton Fire Department

DALTON, Ga. (WDEF) — Dalton firefighters participated in a burning house training this week on Keith Street.

Christian Heritage School donated two unused houses to the fire department in 2023. The school owned those properties and needed the buildings demolished.

Over the past year, the fire department has used this property for several training exercises.

Dalton house burning for training purposes / Dalton Fire Department

“Any time we can do training that we’re not used to getting in the form of acquired structure burns, it’s invaluable for firefighters young and old,” said Keith Dempsey, the DFD’s training coordinator. “We just don’t get the exposure to it as much as we could, due to the lack of these resources being available. But having two structures on one property that we’ve been able to use over the course of the last nine or ten months has been incredible. This is the culmination of it.”

Firefighters practiced in a real life setting on Tuesday at the burning house on 129 Keith Street.

The fire department utilized the other house for training back in November.

House burning for training purposes / Dalton Fire Department