PLOVER, WI (WSAU) — A local fire department is getting the news out early about a controlled burn this weekend.
On Saturday, December 14th, the Plover Fire Department will be holding a controlled burn at 2331 Vineyard Dr. The burn will be on a 2-story building that Plover Deputy Fire Chief Ken Voss says was given to the department by the owners because it was beyond repair. “We have been using it for training over the past year.
“Along with our police department has also been using it for some training as well. Now it’s just the time of year where we’re going to do our last final training in it. Where we go in and do burns inside of each one of the available rooms. And that means we get some good real-life experience out of it.”
Voss emphasizes that the controlled burn is just a training exercise. It’s to give firefighters real-life experience of what it’s like being in a burning building. The training will include both smoke drills and search and rescue drills to mimic real-life situations.
While the controlled burn will be happening for most of the day, Voss says it’s won’t really impact the majority of people. “We try to do them at this time of year because then people don’t have their windows open, they don’t have clothes hanging on the line, that would be an annoyance to them.
“But it is pretty close proximity to Highway 54 and to Highway B. Somewhat to that matter you’ll be able to see smoke from I-39 as well at some point. So we just wanted to kind of let people know that if they’re traveling in the area and they see this, it’s just training going on.”
Voss mentioned that recently the Stevens Point Fire Department held a similarly controlled burn. But that they got some negative press for the burn as it wasn’t publicized well enough. The Plover Fire Department wants to avoid a similar situation and is getting the word out about the burn as much as possible.
The controlled burn is scheduled to start at 8 AM on Saturday. But Voss said the burn could be moved depending on the weather if high winds are in the forecast. The burn will last until about 3 p.m., with the heaviest smoke around noon. Vineyard Dr. will be closed to traffic at Washington Avenue for the duration of the burn.
