This biggest impression I was left with from this day is how a small community can come together. Fifty firefighters were willing to give up their free time on a Sunday. These are volunteers, some make a very minimal stipend for hours put in, barely past minimum wage, maybe it covers their gas. They don’t do it for the money.
The scene- a house over 200 years old had to come down, was going to be demolished anyway. It provided experience in a real house with a real fire but with the added insurance that it was planned, staged, with many helpers there to make sure no one got into trouble.
As I got out of my car upon arrival, I walked by a couple of firefighters in full gear who had just come out, red-faced, sweaty on a 19-degree day. They had just been inside, in the dark (windows had been covered to simulate nighttime), in a smoky house with a goal of finding their way to a certain room for a rescue. For some of these firefighting trainees it was their first time in this kind of situation. This is hard to simulate. But here was a real house with stairs, and hallways and doors.
This day took months to plan for Fire Chief Dana Williams, Retired Fire Chief Tim Angell, and Joe Angell- in charge of fire training. Many others from the Randolph Center Fire Department along with neighboring departments put in time on previous days setting up the house, arranging some rooms with beds and other furniture, boarding up windows, making stairwells safe, blocking off unsafe structures in sections of the house.
I put in time on paperwork for the state and sending out certified notices to 56 neighbors (within a half mile) to inform them of the burn.
Eric and Lev from Henderson Excavation were there to help manage the fire using their excavator and to push debris into the cellar hole.
Another impression from the day was calm, knowledgeable firefighters keeping a fire contained. No chaos. But there in the background was a blaze so hot you could feel it from 100’ away. Firefighters managed hoses from pumper trucks being filled by what looked like a swimming pool sitting at the base of the driveway.
Ultimately the house came down very quickly once it caught. Maybe 2-3 hours and it was gone. Though I am glad to have a safer situation now (instead of a house whose floors could collapse if someone ventured inside without permission), having it gone makes me want to rebuild sooner rather than later. I want that white house back on the hill.
