Burn Tower Article for Magazine

This is my rough draft for the burn tower article that i am doing for the magazine. If you would run through at and let me know what more you would like to see as a reader and any changes that need to be made. Thanks

A building on Garden City Community College campus is engulfed in flames and filled with smoke; firefighters flee to the crisis. No, the science and math building is not being torched, it is the recently built burn tower situated near the student center. The burn tower was a development made possible by a partnership between the college and the City of Garden City. It’s a building specifically designed to train firefighters and fire science students from all over southwest Kansas to practice real life emergency situations. Garden City Fire Fighter Stuart Wolzen says, “We will be going real slowly and they will do well” “Students will know what to expect when they go into a real situation” Lane County Fire Student Stryder Montgomery says “I’d rather know what I’m doing going into a fire then not.” The burn tower was new to most firefighters and students, Saturday January 26th marked the fist major burn tower demonstrations. Fire Science students and firefighters from Lane County and Garden City were the first to explore the benefits of the burn tower. Lane County Fire Supervisor Brad Applegarth says “This is the first official training for the students, they get a lot more experience here then they could anywhere else. It’s also nice to have a professional instructor on hand.” That professional instructor and organizer of the burn tower activities is GCCC Fire Science instructor Larry Pander. The burn tower will be used for a range of situations that are liable to occur in a real life affair. Before the students can dart in and begin rescuing victims, they must first practice putting on all the gear and making sure everything is functioning correctly. Firefighters are required to put on complete uniform and all equipment in less than one minute. The student’s practice inspecting air tank regulators and make sure everything will be functioning properly going into a smoked filled room. The air tanks can last anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes, it all depends on how hard the firefighter is breathing and how much work they are doing. Once the students are comfortable with the equipment the next step is seeing what they can do in a smoke filled room. The rooms in the building are not on fire for the first round, Larry Pander says “You have to break them in without fire first because to much can go wrong” The smoke is produced by a fog machine similar to those used for rock concerts. While in the smoke filled space the firefighters must practice searching and finding victims as well as keeping a look out for each other and finally finding a way to exit. While one group was in the building around the back, others practice the treacherous circumstance of getting through a wall or ceiling while in tangled in wires. Garden City Fire Fighter Ryan Powers says “It teaches students how to not panic and how to get through a wall or ceiling.” Once the future firefighters go through the first scenarios its then time to step up to legitimate fire. The inferno is created by lighting bales of hay with a small torch. When the bales are ignited a set of firefighters enter the structure. While inside the smoldering room instructor Larry Pander explains the different levels of a fire and how to accurately pursue an actual fire. The instructors want the students to go in without their breathing regulators on to get a sense of what it’s like without a functioning mask. “You feel the smoke and your eyes start burning” says Lane County Fire student Lucas Miller. Once the regulators are turned on the venomous smoke is sealed off. The burn tower is intended to withhold temperatures of 600 degrees but for first time practice it only reached around 250 degrees. Students practice saving victims trapped inside, one replica victim is an infant and the other a 160 pound imitation body. If a firefighter’s air supply runs out they must exit the building, exchange air tanks and return to the blazing structure.
The burn tower will become beneficial to nearly everyone is the southwest Kansas region. Current firefighters will continually make use of it, to be on top of their game. Firefighter students will get as close to a real life circumstances as possible. The burn tower will also assist the citizens of our community and the surrounding area’ because the firefighters will be prepared and qualified in the occurrence of a crisis in the area. GCCC Fire Science II Student Aaron Abrigo says “The more training the better gets them out of the classroom do it for yourself but for people who need your help in the future” A program like this is distinctive for Southwest Kansas. “Nothing in western Kansas like this” says Garden City Fire Fighter Stuart Wolzen.