TILTON — Firefighters from several local fire departments participated in a controlled burn exercise at the former vacation spot of Anchorage at the Lake on Thursday morning.
“This was a resort community, there were cabins here, weddings here for a long time. A new group bought the land and all the buildings, and they’re gonna build a luxury hotel here. They’re getting rid of all the old stuff to start the new stuff,” said Michael Sitar, chief of the Tilton-Northfield Fire District.
Sitar said he aims to have two live-fire training sessions per year, which is easier to achieve during times when lots of real estate is changing hands. Personnel from Sanbornton, Gilford, Tilton, Laconia, Belmont, Northfield and Franklin were present for the training.
These sessions provide invaluable experience to new and seasoned firefighters alike, allowing them to practice teamwork, communication and basic skills in a highly controlled, but real fire environment.
A single home stood alone on the property, surrounded by the foundations of the old resort’s structures. The fire departments had marked the exterior with letters to designate certain areas of the building for the training exercise. This allows organizers to better communicate to the various teams as they operate within the building.
Inside, six rooms were primed for ignition with stacks of hay and wooden pallets. Outside, a four-inch hose ran from the primary attack engine down to another engine stationed at the lake shore.
“We’re taking the water out of the lake, and now we’re just keeping it flowing,” Sitar explained, gesturing to the waterside truck.
Safety officers tasked with starting and monitoring the interior fires had their own set of back up hoses that they could deploy should the exercise participants fail to reach the flames. In addition to the attack engine a secondary truck waited right behind it just in case the first failed.
The exercises lasted for a few hours, concluding around 1 p.m. After, the fire departments let the structure burn, sending a tall cloud of black smoke into the skies above Lake Winnisquam.
A short drone video of the fire can be seen at laconiadailysun.com.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the smoke could be seen above Lake Winnisquam.
(1) comment
Those cabins were there since 1930, this is sad. The world sucks
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