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Permalink Reply by Sparky3317 on October 28, 2010 at 10:15pm

I was on a call department where we used old train cars. Nothing real speacial just make sure you have multiple points of egress. This means cutting some metal to put in other doors and such. They had just placed old rail cars on a plateform to raise them up a bit and built a set of stairs to come into them. Inside they had built different walls like room set ups so that you could add ply wood for walls and change the configuration around. They were two wide with one door from each side for egress. Other than that make the inside how ever you want. With the containers like rail cars you would have to place them on a platform if you wanted to elevate them. Thats pretty much the jist of it.

They use to have them staked to high but after a couple fires it just got to dangerous and had to remove the top car. You can also build vents and other roof cut outs into them that you can fit plywood into if you want to practice verticle ventilation.

Other than that go nuts. Really just have to design what you want inside and go to work. Nothing to it. But like you said no high heat sources or huge fires. We had a couple times we got close to potential flashover so you have to be very careful. Pallets and straw get pretty hot and quick. Especially if you are doing more than one fire make sure you give the interior time to cool down before lighting another fire. You dont have to soak the walls but open all the doors and give the walls a light spray over.

Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by Thomas J. Harty on October 28, 2010 at 10:23pm

Thanks, this is nice to know. I had thought of four containers on bottom, two on top all welded together with an exterior metal staircase and rails around the second levels...with cutouts for plywood to sacrifice for venting. Might even add propane props as they would be safer in some situations.

Anyone got any mre ideas?

Thanks, Tom

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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on October 28, 2010 at 10:40pm

We have two training "buildings" constructed from shipping containers. One is "cool." We fill it with fake smoke or use opaque masks and practice search patterns. It's full of furniture and other obsticals. The building is constructed of three containers. Two in parallel, and a third on top, shaped like a capital H. The odd shape makes things like sector command and accountability a bit more interesting.

The other one is a single container and is our "hot" facility. Basically a container with a brick floor and some vents and windows cut in it. Basic training only. Go in, feel heat, apply water. the metal and vents let the heat out so quickly that it's difficult to show layering or practice "pulse" attacks. If you open the doors, the heat rushes out really quickly, but you can't really seal the doors with the hoses going in. It's not optimal, but since a container sells for about $5-7000 (delivered) it is a cheap, practical way to give our guys some hot training.

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