Firefighting is not just putting water on the flames, there’s science and math involved.
Friday, the firefighters of the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Protection Territory got to put their knowledge and skills to the test as they trained on the home at 780 W. Center St. It’s one of three properties that eventually will be removed for the Warsaw Public Works Department building project.
Then Saturday, firefighters from Indiana Department of Homeland Security District 2 taking fire investigation training will spend time at the home to try to determine the cause, origin and other details about each of the fires that was set inside the house. Five men from the WWFT are taking part in that training to get their fire investigation certification.

    The rapid intervention team (RIT) is prepared to respond during live fire training at 780 W. Center St., Warsaw, on Friday. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

Explaining briefly how science plays a part in firefighting, Battalion Chief Shade Keeney said, “We’re looking at the fire science. We teach our guys the fire science, the physics, the chemistry behind what’s happening. There’s a lot more than putting water on the fire.”
Early in their careers, all the firefighters are taught endothermic versus exothermic, positive neutral and negative planes, reading smoke - volume, velocity, density and color, he said.
“There’s tons of things that go into all of our structures. They all have variables. We have different air flow, different oxygen, different fuel loads, different BTU production. So we have to evaluate the variables. That’s what drives our strategies and tactics and decision-making on fire ground,” Keeney said.
There’s the classroom setting and the book work portion to the job of firefighting, but there’s no substitute for experience.
“We’ve seen so many different things over the years, experience is a huge factor on fire ground decision-making and what we do, absolutely,” he said.
Warsaw Fire Chief Joel Shilling said the fire starters for Friday’s training were from Goshen Fire Rescue.
“And then we have all of our guys who fill different roles as well, rather it’s a tech team, a backup safety team, a RIT (rapid intervention team) or a rest team,” he said.

    Pictured is the bathroom inside the home at 780 W. Center St., Warsaw, after firefighters trained on a live fire there. Photo Provided By Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory
  

In case some of the firefighters get into a dangerous situation or have an emergency, the RIT is the crew that goes in and rescues them. “Hopefully, we never have to use them, but we always have to be prepared for the worst,” he said.
Inside the house were various props, some of which were already in the homes and others that were donated. They included things like mattresses, nightstands, dressers, a desk, dining room table and a sectional couch.
“Through the IDEM permit that we applied for” to have the burn, Shilling explained, because it’s an investigator class they were allowed to use the props.
“When we burn the other two houses, if we decide to do that, it’ll be stripped down. It’ll be all wood material and then we are only burning pallets and straw. That’s what the fire load is inside the house, and then we’ll go in and extinguish it,” he said. “Where here, because it’s an investigator class, we wanted real world stuff inside.”
Shilling said there were six different rooms that they were going to burn Friday, with each room set up differently.
“There will be six evolutions. Because we have to follow NFPA 1403 when we do these burns - and it’s just a national standard that we follow throughout the entire fire service - so we have to account for that fuel load, so there’s a lot of math and calculations that go on to determine the fuel load inside, which, that’s why you see all these trucks set up. We have to have two different water sources, so if this truck fails, (the other) becomes our backup. So we have two different water sources that provide a certain gallon per minute to overcome the BTUs, or the heat release rate, of the materials inside,” he explained.
“So a lot of math and science goes behind it to figure out what we need to make sure everybody’s safe.”
For Friday’s training, there were four teams of five guys. Also on hand were the ignition team, safety officers and pump operators for a total of about 30 personnel. Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose and Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz also were on hand watching the training.
“When we set the fire, three teams will actually be working and then one team will be resting. Then it kind of changes in intensity, so our RIT - again, we hope we don’t use them - but they’re here, ready to go in case they’re needed. You’re not resting, you’re ready to go, but you’re resting. So, typically, they go from the attack team and rotate down to the safety team and then rotate to RIT and then out to rest,” Shilling said.

    Firefighters taking part in a fire investigation class will observe the rooms inside the home at 780 W. Center St., Warsaw, like this one, on Saturday to try to determine cause, origin and other information about the fire. Photo Provided By Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory
  

Firefighter Aaron Bolinger set up the burns and was managing them for Shilling.
“He does a phenomenal job at it. Very experienced at doing it, so I’m grateful to have him help me,” Shilling stated.
The firefighters taking the fire investigation class were not allowed to be at the scene Friday. Each of the fires were to be set in separate ways for those in the class to figure out.
“The main goal for it is, the investigators have to come here and do like they would on a normal fire. There’s different processes we have to go through and stuff like that, so we’re going to make them go from showing up, not knowing anything. We’re going to have role players out here tomorrow so there are going to be people who are the ‘homeowners’ and different role playing and acting so the investigators can ask questions and interview them like they would on any other fire,” Shilling said.
Planning and preparing to burn the house and train on it was about a two-month process. A lot of paperwork and notifications were involved.
“We’re just very fortunate. Robinson Construction luckily donated this. The Street Department has helped out a bunch, whether it be giving us dumpsters, giving us equipment, hauling the stuff out for us. It takes an army of people to get this done,” Shilling.

    Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighters at rest, along with Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan (far right), observe their fellow firefighters train Friday. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

With the average years of experience on the WWFT being nine years, he said they’re a very young department, so the live training on a real home is huge.
When the fire department is on its way to a real, unplanned fire, with the technology they have available to them, Shilling said they already have a game plan of the arrival of each engine. It’s also already set out in policies and procedures for them.
“The first-in engine will typically do attack or search, depending on if we know there’s people there or not. And then the second-in engine will either assist with search or new ventilation, whatever they’re assigned. And then the battalion chief will always take command, and then the third new engine will typically bring the water or connect to a hydrant. Sometimes engines will share water if we’re in a non-hydrant area while we wait for a tanker. So everyone’s got a job on the way to the scene that they kind of already have in their head,” he said, though the battalion chief or incident command can make reassignments if they so see fit.
The lieutenant or captain is in charge of two to three firefighters on a truck. The officer is in charge of a scene until he passes it on to the battalion chief, and then he’s in charge of making deviations to the plans.
While the firefighters will get a hose line in place as fast as they can, the priority is life safety.
“Communication is huge. Everybody has a radio. We make sure that we communicate everything, just because that’s very, very key for us,” Shilling said.
The firefighters train a lot and are “super” well-trained in all aspects of their careers, he said.
“They are training all the time to be the best that they can. They are very well-equipped, and they do a lot more with less. I couldn’t ask for a better department as the fire chief. These guys do all the work and make me proud and make the department look good,” Shilling concluded.