Wheaton Fire Department hosts Emergency Response Fire Training

Published: Jun. 5, 2023 at 10:51 PM CDT

TOWN OF WHEATON, Wis. (WEAU) - The Wheaton Fire Dept. in partnership with the Wisconsin Propane Education & Research Council hosted an emergency response, live propane fire training Monday.

According to a media release from the Fire Department, at 6:00 p.m. Monday, around 30 firefighters from the Wheaton Fire Dept. and surrounding areas attended.

The media release from the Fire Department says the training consisted of classroom instruction on the physical properties of propane and a hands-on portion that includes five fire scenarios including a grill, forklift, bulk tank, and propane terminal piping props.

Lead instructor Luke Van Noie said although those types of fires aren’t common, it’s vitally important for first responders to understand how to fight them.

‘This type of fire event, propane or natural gas fire is quite rare, however, since it is quite rare and firefighters do not get to practice on it very, very often, it’s important to get this training out to them because when they do encounter an LPG or a natural gas incident, when they come up on the scene, it’s important they know how to mitigate the hazards and how to extinguish the fire safely with minimal damage to people or property,” Van Noie said.

At times during the training, area residents may have seen flames shooting 20 feet or more into the air.