House once owned by firefighter's grandparents torched for training

Two structures on Route K were donated to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department and used for two weekends of training with firefighters from Cape Girardeau, Gordonville, Jackson, Scott City, East County and Millersville fire departments.

The first live-fire training was held June 3, and the second structure was ignited Saturday morning by Jerry Siemers, a Gordonville firefighter of 33 years.

For Siemers, Saturday's training site meant more than practice. The house burned Saturday morning once was the home to his grandparents and held many childhood memories.

"I'd spent a lot of time there -- a lot of Christmases, lot of holidays in here, a lot of Sunday afternoons after church. I drank a lot of Milde's cream soda and ate a lot of Dixie Queen doughnuts in there," Siemers said with a laugh.

While the house held personal value to Siemers, he expressed the importance of the training exercise and appreciated getting a use out of the home one last time.

Cape Girardeau firefighter Brad Martin puts on his gear before entering Saturday's live-burn fire training near Route K in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

"This is how you cut your teeth into fire service," Siemers said. "This is how you learn, and stuff you learn on days like this is what might save your butt 10 years down the road, you never know.

"It'd be nice if more people would allow us to have access to good, quality structures like this to train in," Siemers said. "You can build all the training houses in the world, but none of them simulate real-life situations like actually burning in an honest-to-goodness, well-built house."

Just like real-life fire situations, a rapid-intervention team was on standby in case a firefighter fell into danger.

For Leshawn Jackson, the danger fell into him.

Jackson, a three-year veteran of the Gordonville Fire Department, knelt pulling a hose when water from a previously extinguished attic fire caused part of the kitchen ceiling to fall down. After being struck in the helmet and knocked to the floor, Jackson was able to push away the debris and escape. Jackson was not injured.

Gordonville firefighter Zach Schneider practices cutting a into a roof before Saturday's live-burn fire training near Route K in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Jackson's partner for the exercise, Robbie Stagner, said he'd seen situations such as that before and reacted quickly by knocking back the fire.

Cape Girardeau Fire Department battalion chief Mike Ramsey led the training and estimated 30 firefighters participated in about 20 separate burn exercises to practice techniques such as hose deployment, ventilation and fire suppression.

The exercises began in the bedrooms with several burns held in each room until the structure lost its integrity.

Working from the bedrooms back to the main doorways, the fire departments maximized the structure's viability for the firefighting exercise.

"It's a really systematic way to burn the structure down," said Cape Girardeau Capt. Rick Ennis. "Sometimes the buildings in such poor condition, they're unsafe to even use. We need to get some training value; we don't just burn things down to burn things down. If it's unsafe to go in and do fire attacks, there's nothing to learn."

Gordonville firefighter Randy Morris Jr. described the day as a success.

"It's real nice to be able to work with other departments, knowing that out in the county, you don't get as many fires as we do in the city," he said. "We get to take our experience and pass it on to those guys, and there's been times, too, where they'll come in and they'll teach us something."

bmatthews@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address: Route K, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701