By Linda Taaffe

Twenty-three Mountain View firefighters battled an all-day blaze in an abandoned house on Ferguson Drive last Friday as part of a rare live-burn training program. The last live-burn program conducted in Mountain View was in 1991.

Department spokesman Lynn Brown said firefighters rarely have the opportunity to put out huge structural fires. He said medical emergencies account for about 90 percent of all calls. He said about 100 firefighters die nationally each year in fire-related deaths.

“This (program) gives them a real-life experience they don’t see every day,” Brown said.

“It provides an opportunity for firefighters to gain experience under realistic, yet controlled, live fire conditions,” Brown said.

Using bales of hay and wood pallets, fire officials set blazes in various rooms of the duplex slated for demolition.

They blocked the windows with plywood to suppress the sunlight.

Firefighters, working in teams of three, took turns fighting the blaze in the house during 15-20 minute intervals.

When one team had reduced the fire down to small flames, officials would check the house’s structural safety, wait for the flames to rise again and send in the next team.

The sessions provided firefighters the opportunity to practice fire suppression and search and rescue techniques using helmet-mounted thermal imaging cameras that the department recently purchased.

The cameras use infrared imaging to assist with firefighting and rescue activities in dark rooms.

The cameras are able to sense interior hot spots from outside buildings and can identify fires behind walls and crawl spaces, Brown said.

Fire officials also practiced arson investigations on the property’s outbuildings.

Five engines, one ladder truck and one rescue unit were nearby should the flames get out of control.

Brown said last week’s program was independent of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City, which resulted in the deaths of more than 300 rescue workers.

Brown said the department conducts live-burns when the opportunity becomes available - if the applicant of a demolition permit agrees to have firefighters train on the site.

San Jose Construction Company was scheduled to remove the burned debris.

The company is slated to build a two-story office building for Auto-Chlor Systems.