"You cannot replace training on a real building and we’re really appreciative of Gridley Country Ford"

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - Depending on when you grew up in Gridley will determine what you call it, but the old building on the corner of Hwy 99 and Ford Avenue has met its match. Literally.

The building was burned down Monday, February 8^th 2021 after serving as a training site for CALFIRE crews for the past two weeks. Inclement weather prevented it from being demolished Thursday, February 4^th when the “Live Fire” evolutions began at the site.

The Live Fire Training Exercise, organized by Battalion Chief Sean Norman, invited CALFIRE crews from all over the area to participate. Engines and crews from Chico, Richvale, Bangor, Biggs, Sutter and more were on site, with CALFIRE fighters ranging in experience from rookies to seasoned vets. Chief Norman said “We had …. about 50 firefighters rotate through different types of training” as they honed their skills and furthered training.

CALFIRE was incredibly grateful to have the building for training. The word “invaluable” was used by many to describe the gravity of being able to train in a non-emergency situation. Chief Norman says “We have some training props that are great for us, but you cannot replace training on a real building and we’re really appreciative of Gridley Country Ford, they own the building, for letting us come in and use it.” He continues, “We have some new, young people…. It’s been really good for them to come in and get some skills and get some of that muscle memory built up…put some slides in their slide tray so as they come to a fire, they could say ‘hey I’ve seen that before, I see how that’s going to react, I’ll be able to predict it’. And ultimately it makes them more effective at their job and keeps them safe.”

Preparation work and other small training evolutions were relatively quiet before the “Live Fire” training that began last Thursday. Crews rotated through four “stations” so-to-speak on each training evolution, or each fire exercise conducted: Fire Attack, Ventilation, Back-Up and R&R. CALFIRE’s Rick Carhart said “It’s perfect because, if we go to a structure fire, everybody’s going to have a job, right, you never know what that job is. So, the fact…you can do everything, every job that’s required on a structure fire on one structure in the same day…It’s great.” Crews also practiced “sweeping” and got to experience and tackle a few “backdrafts” exercises.

The final fire was lit shortly after noon on Monday. Chief Norman said he designed the fire to cause the building to “fold in on itself like origami” and it basically did. Crews stood back allowing the fire to spread quickly, while keeping water on neighboring businesses to protect from the flames. Chief Norman says the exercise was a success. “It went really well today. We really tried to reduce the impacts on the businesses around us...It was really about waiting for that right weather window and today it opened up, so we went for it. It went clean, easy, down quick…so that’s what we wanted.”