Black smoke in Orem just part of training fire

OREM — Normally fire fighters just put out fires. Thursday afternoon in Orem they lit one, then put it out.

All in the name of training.

Residents don't need to worry about the plume of black smoke they saw rising at 1200 E. 400 North around 3 p.m. Thursday.

It was just the Orem Fire Department concluding their week of fire training by burning the house down, said Fire Chief Scott Gurney.

Officers had spent the week practicing in the donated home doing search drills, evacuation drills, ventilation training, cutting holes in the roof and learning fire fighter survival — training that is "invaluable" to the department, Gurney said.

When they're finished, to render the home safe, the teams simply burn the house to the ground and turn the land back over to the cooperating homeowner to do what they want with it.

The department only gets a few allowed training burns a year and must comply with federal guidelines for air quality, Gurney said.

There will be crews on scene all night to ensure that the fire is completely out.