Firefighter Michelle “Mo” Taylor braces herself as she aims her nozzle toward
the burning house. The force of the water about to rush through her nozzle
could easily knock someone off balance if they weren’t prepared, especially
standing on ice and snow.

With that in mind, Sean Spulniak literally has her back, standing directly
behind her with a hand on Taylor’s turnout coat as she opens the nozzle and
drenches a flaming corner of the structure and the adjacent trees.

Drivers passing by might wonder why the hoses aren’t continuously dousing
the flames, but this isn’t an emergency; it’s a training exercise for the
Hoodland Fire District, a “burn-to learn” exercise in which homeowners agree
to burn their old houses already slated for demolition.

It’s a win for both parties, as firefighters train with live fire under controlled
conditions, and the homeowner has the majority of their demolition finished.
In East Clackamas County, as in many rural areas, conditions can vary wildly
from July to December. Ice, snow, downed trees, mudslides and flooding are
some of the issues firefighters have contended with in recent years, along
with smoke and flames. Wintry conditions of the sort one finds in Government
Camp are especially hard to simulate in training.

In a quasi-legendary fire a few years ago, firefighters from Hoodland, Sandy,
Boring and Gresham zoomed to Government Camp on snow-covered roads to
suppress a fire in the Collins Lake condos. There was approximately 10 feet of
snow on the ground and thermometers dipped to 11 degrees at one point.

Water from hoses turned into ice, and many people took hard falls, while
access to all but the front of buildings was extremely difficult to achieve. Fresh
powder might please snowboarders, but it is a serious impediment for
firefighters who need to climb ladders and tote hoses for hundreds of feet.
Crews were there for more than twelve hours.

Every emergency call has its own issues, and emergency responders must
always keep their eyes open and be prepared to adapt. The four East
Clackamas County fire districts now share a training burn trailer that spends
as much as eight months a year in Boring and the rest in Welches. It’s a great
tool, but propane-fueled fires in a metal box can’t compete with live fire for
authenticity, said Hoodland Fire Chief Mic Eby.

So when the chance came to train in the snow with live fire, Eby jumped at it.
Prior to the burn, Hoodland used the ochecked radios and nozzles, and
snapped on all of their protective gear.

A rehab station was set up nearby with medical gear, food and drinks, and
propane heaters. Firefighters with hoselines stood in the snow to the west, in
the icy road to the north, and even on the beginning of the bridge just east of
the house. Passersby surely got an eyeful as they headed toward the slopes at
Ski Bowl East.

After the fire was lit in the basement, flames soon crept their way out first-
floor windows. This was an old, dry building with lots of varnish-covered
paneling, ripe for rapid flame spread. Thick smoke drifted north toward the
pumping apparatus.

Spray from hoses drifted over the area and formed runnels that drifted toward
the access road. Icy pools began to form, prompting a search for the drain on
the sidewalk and in the gutter.

Firefighters kept certain areas of the structure wet more often to maintain the
structural integrity of certain walls, guiding the building to collapse away from
the road and a creek below.

As dry as the house was, the building was effectively flattened in less than an
hour.

The homeowner can now clean up and build a modern ski chalet, while the
firefighters can head into their peak emergency season, knowing they are that
much more prepared for the next winter emergency.