VIDEO/PHOTOS: In a scene that has tragically played out across the United States yearly, a Christmas tree starts a fire inside a building, but this scenario created by the Bellows Falls and North Walpole fire departments was just a training exercise to prepare firefighters for real-world events.
Bellows Falls Fire Chief Shaun McGinnis helped orchestrate a live-fire training at an abandoned building that allowed the fire to be controlled by members of his department while the training was playing out.
Before the call went out to a team of firefighters that was staged at a local fire department, Bellows Falls Fire Departmentâs Lt. Ben Masure and Deputy Tony James placed Christmas trees into an elevator shaft and other parts of the building. Then the call went out that a person was âtrappedâ in the building.
McGinnis talked about the training that he and his team were running.
