Idaho Falls Fire Department spends day training

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)- The housing market in Idaho Falls is making things hard for a lot of people, and the Idaho Falls Fire Department isn't immune.

The IFFD, as well as the Idaho Falls Police Department, and the bomb squad, have been using a house on Milligan road to train for the last few weeks, explains battalion chief Chet Pugmire.

"Over the last four or five weeks, we've been prepping this house to conduct what we call live fire training drills," Pugmire said.

Friday's training was all about practicing in real world conditions, unlike a burn trailer.

"This is a little more true to life, using natural fuels," Pugmire said. "So we're able to get smoke that's not created in a burn trailer, in artificial fire trailers. And then we're able to get some of the fire behavior that you can't recreate with the gas fire simulators."

And because the housing market has been hot, multiple agencies are also using the house to train.

"Different types of forcible entry training, search and rescue training, and the police department has also used it for training," Pugmire said. "So we've got to utilize it, these houses are hard to come by, so we really relish the opportunity."

Pugmire also said that once training is over, they'll burn down the house.

Ball Ventures, who owns the property and donated it for training, will then develop it.