Burning down the house

Fire Chief Gari Gill brought a proposal before the Sundance City Council last week: the new owners of the building that has served in recent memory as a daycare and food pantry would like the fire department to burn it down. Demolishing the building will be expensive, he explained, so the owners have suggested using a controlled burn as a training exercise.

Mayor Paul Brooks initially balked at the idea, recalling an incident back in the days when the fire department regularly undertook such training exercises. Smoke drifted through some open windows during a burn on a spring morning, he said, and the outcry led to a situation in which the city had to foot the bill for cleaning cushions, curtains and so on.

Gill assured the council that it's no longer possible to simply burn down a house – there's a Department of Environmental Quality process that must be followed. The burn must take place on a clear day when the wind conditions are right, for example.

"It's got to be within a certain parameter or I wouldn't touch it," Gill said.

Brooks acquiesced that a training exercise would be an opportunity to test the resilience of the city water system and see how well the upgrades that have been made over recent years hold up.

Karla Greaser of Trihydro, city engineers, agreed that the data can be used to take a look at the model.

Gill informed the council that, having received initial approval, he will get started on the process and visit with Public Works Director Mac Erickson.

"I will bring it back as soon as I visit with DEQ and Mac a little more," he said, estimating that the DEQ portion of the preparations will take around three to four months.