CONCORD, N.H. - A New Hampshire town is being fined by the state for burning a house as part of a fire department training exercise without permission.

Department of Environmental Services Commissioner Thomas Burack says the town of Piermont has paid a $4,210 administrative fine for violations of the state's Air Pollution Control Act.

The Piermont fire department burned the house as part of a training exercise on Feb. 14 of last year.

The state says local fire departments can burn structures as part of training exercises, but they must get a permit ahead of time.

The state says Piermont did not notify the state ahead of time, ensure hazardous materials were removed from the house, nor was the structure inspected for asbestos, as required.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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This is the biggest reason we no longer burn acquired houses. By the time we strip everything required by EPA, there's nothing to burn by the frame. Plus the fines in Texas can go up to $50,000, per day, per violation.
Nothing like training safe-ishly
Firefighting is a dangerous occupation by nature. There is no such thing as a "safe" live burn. I agree that the department in question is in the wrong for not following proper procedures, but how many working fires do we respond to that contain hazardous materials, and asbestos in the fire load? How many working fires that are dispatched are safe? None. I applaud the department for conducting such training. Next time I would recommend following state regulations though.
At least they only had to pay a fine and weren't subjected to charges of arson, and a slew of others, like the guys in PA were last year.
New Hampshire eh? Isn't there someone who frequents these boards from New Hampshire? Isn't that person a fire instructor?

FETC? Have you've been naughty?

:-D
First off it wasn't me and I wasn't involved in this training. The state does allow fire departments to use acquired structures for live fire training. They need to be notified and the host department needs to meet the requirements set forth by the state and the inspector before the training is commenced.
I figured it wouldn't be you, hence the smily thing.

:-)
John,

I figured as much but I needed to clear my instructor name :)
Hence the politically correct answer.

Take care and be safe brother...
Bill
Well... they didn't follow the rules. They got bagged. An expensive mistake for sure.
I hope they followed NFPA 1403...

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