If you see smoke on Saturday near Maple Grove Road and Highway 53, the Hermantown Fire Department will be taking part in a day-long training exercise. According to the City of Hermantown, the home located at 4716 Lindgren Road will be used for training. The burn will be conducted in the Hermantown Marketplace area from 7 a.m. until at least 5 p.m.

The event will allow for a variety of training exercises for members of the Hermantown Fire Department.

The public should be aware that two roads will be closed for training. Richard Avenue will be inaccessible between Stevie Drive and Lindgren Road, and Lindgren Road will be closed between Haines Road and Loberg Avenue.

Steve Johnson, the Deputy Chief of the Hermantown Fire Department, says he’s only had four controlled burnings in his career. Although he says when firefighters have the opportunity for the training exercise, it helps prepare fire crews for future fires.

“That’s a rare opportunity. Burning a real house is a very rare thing nowadays,” Johnson said. “This right now is the biggest benefit to our fire department that we could ever ask for. The first fire we did is a level one burn. We actually certified two of our members fully trained firefighters now, which is a really big thing for us.”

During on-call emergencies, structure fires tend to be too dangerous for training firefighters. Michael Graves, one of the paid on-call firefighters, says other emergency exercises like propane training burns, don’t compare to a controlled structure fire exercise.

“We have a lot of newer people too, so this is very good for them to get in there. Experience the type of heat you’ll be feeling. The type of smoke you’ll be dealing with, so this is huge for a lot of those guys.”

City officials say the training is possible thanks to the donation of the structure by local developers Joe Peterson and Stevie Paulson of Platinum Properties and Patriot Properties of Hermantown.

“At first I didn’t really get it. But after meeting the fire department guys, all the people at the city, finding out how important this training was, they can actually maybe do something today that might save someone’s life in the future,” Paulson said. “It’s a great deal, because, this is like Christmas to these guys.”

For more information on how to get involved with the Hermantown Fire Department you can read more here. Also for more details about the Hermantown Fire Department’s hybrid model you can read more here.