BALDWIN – Flames consumed a Habersham County landmark Friday night, but the fire was no accident.
Months of planning by fire instructors allowed nearly 50 area firefighters and public safety personnel to get hands-on training at the former Runway Fish House adjacent to the Habersham County Airport just outside Baldwin.
Habersham County Commissioner Stacy Hall did some training with Habersham County Emergency Services personnel early last week to prepare him to join them for the training exercises conducted Friday.
After emerging from interior training, Hall took a moment to share his thoughts.
“We’ve actually been inside with a lot of the state inspectors going over arson situations, so it’s not just a burn,” Hall said. “We’re talking about investigative stuff, and there’s a lot of teaching going on.”
Some people may wonder what prompted a commissioner to participate in Friday’s training exercise.
“I think it’s important for a commissioner to be cognizant of what these guys go through, and to just be able to be with them and learn from them and hear their own personal stories and see the chief in action,” Hall said. “Fortunately, we’re blessed to be able to have a structure like this, so we can do some significant training that is incredibly helpful for all these guys.”
Approximately 45 personnel were onsite for the training exercise Friday, including personnel from Habersham County Emergency Services, Baldwin Fire, Lee Arrendale State Prison Fire Department and Clarkesville Fire Department. A total of eight fire instructors participated in the training exercises as well.
Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black said Friday’s training gave emergency personnel a more realistic look at real-world fire conditions outside the now-traditional steel burn buildings used for training.
“Live fire training, and the ability to burn a structure of this size, training outside of a burn building, is invaluable to our profession,” Black said. “With the changes in EPA regulations for acquired structures, along with other NFPA 1403 requirements, etc., makes it almost impossible with time and preparations of the structure to remove everything required now – asbestos, shingles, any overhead weight such as HVAC units, anything on the roof, etc. – to be worth the time and effort. In addition, once you remove everything required, you don't have a lot left to get many burns for the training. This structure did provide multiple burns for personnel on Friday. In addition, we were able to provide a general Arson Investigation class with five various points of origin, where we had six different groups go through.”
Black said the opportunity to burn an existing structure, once a common practice, is becoming scarce because of time and expense of preparation.
“By far, live training burns are few and far between in today's world, compared to when I started in 1985, and usually, the structures that we are offered, are in such poor shape, it would provide no real benefit for departments today related to training,” Black said. “But Friday's burn was really beneficial and having one of our commissioners go through some training earlier in the week with PPE and SCBA and go in with our personnel, I believe gave him a different perspective of what it's really like inside a burning structure. Our appreciation to Commissioner Stacy Hall for doing this.”
Hall said the experience provided valuable insight for him.
“In a commissioner role, there are requests and discussions that come up related to the fire department,” Hall said. “Doing this helps identify the situation. It helps give me perspective in the things that they’re talking about, for example pieces of equipment or issues in communication, or certain training that is needed. It just helps give me a little more perspective, so I make a better decision.”
Habersham County Commissioner-elect Dustin Mealor, whose first job was as a busboy at Runway Fish House, and Commissioner-elect Jimmy Tench also attended Friday’s training burn, along with County Manager Phil Sutton.
Not everyone was happy to see the former restaurant go to clear the way for expansion of the Habersham County Airport and Habersham County Industrial Park.
“The burn, while beneficial for training, was also a sad day in this community,” Black said. “The fish house was an icon in this area. Many from surrounding counties dined here many times over the years, and to see this be used for training for our departments, was bittersweet for many. But it's opening the door for much-needed improvement and asset to the airport and community, and the plans for this location will definitely be a huge benefit moving forward.”
