South Jersey firefighters conduct training in vacant homes

MT. HOLLY, N.J. (WPVI) -- With permission from officials in Mt. Holly, Westhampton firefighters were given the chance to conduct their training in vacant houses slated for demolition at the old Mount Holly Gardens.

"It's very rare that we get acquired structures slated to be demolished that we can utilize for training. In this instance there's multiple units available," said Chief Jason Carty, Westhampton Emergency Services.

Because the homes are being knocked down, firefighters don't have to worry about damage.

That allows them to vent roofs, practice forcible entries and break windows without concern.

Firefighters typically train at the County Emergency Services Center but going through exercises here in real life settings makes a difference.

"You have more reality. You're able to do things like vent windows or cut roofs open, advance hose lines - where in the training academy, sometimes you don't have the availability to do that," said Mine Westdyk.

"Gives us real windows, real doors, real rooms - it's not familiar to us so it just changes it up a lot," said David Shaw.

New Jersey doesn't permit setting fires for training, but to enhance the experience officers have spent hours staging scenes - purposely putting obstacles and wiring in the way.

"You have to know how to navigate those and if you don't practice on how to do it, it could end up killing you one day," said Brian Iannacone.

Departments from Mt. Holly, Lumberton and Mount Laurel have joined Westhampton training here.

The belief is that drilling in buildings like this provides critical experience and better trained firefighters.