Structure Burn Planned for Alpha Fire Company Training

Smoke, flames and fire department activity will be visible in part of Ferguson Township during a planned structure burn for an upcoming Alpha Fire Company training.

Alpha, in coordination with the Centre Region Fire Protection Program, will conduct the “acquired structure burn” between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, and Sunday, June 21, at 2190 Shingletown Road, the fire company wrote in a social media post on Monday.

An acquired structure burn is a live fire training exercise using a building with the permission of the property owner to provide realistic experience for firefighters. According to county records, the structure to be used in Sunday’s exercise is on property owned by Penn State near the Ferguson Township-Harris Township line.

“Training opportunities such as this are critical for your Alpha volunteers to gain practical, realistic, and hands-on experience,” the fire company wrote. “While firefighters train year-round in a variety of settings, opportunities to train in environments that closely replicate actual emergency incidents are few and far between.”

No road closures are planned, but “a number of fire department vehicles will be operating on-site and throughout the surrounding area,” according to Alpha. That includes several tankers that will be filling and shuttling water from the State College Borough Water Authority at 1201 W. Branch Rd. to the burn site.

Smoke and fire will occur on site throughout the exercise, and Centre County 911 is aware of the planned burn. For non-emergency concerns, contact the Centre County Emergency Communication Center at (800) 479-0050. As always, call 911 in the event of an emergency, Alpha wrote.

Emergency response will be maintained throughout the Centre Region during the training, which has been approved by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy and the Department of Environmental Protection.

It’s the first acquired structure burn in the State College area in about 30 years, according to Alpha, although it is the second such training in Centre County this month. Bellefonte Fire Department conducted a controlled burn of the vacant house at 116 Paradise Road in Benner Township for a training exercise on June 6.

“Opportunities of this scale are rare and provide firefighters with invaluable hands-on experience in a realistic environment,” Alpha wrote.