Progress is evident all over our once small town of Apex. It seems everywhere you look there is some kind of construction going on. Unfortunately new development is not without its casualties - this beautiful 5000 square-foot mansion, once a landmark, was sitting in the path of what is to become the next leg of the Apex Peakway. The homeowners were kind enough to allow the fire department to make something positive out of the situation by using the house for live fire training.

Firefighters from Apex, Fairview, Cary and Swift Creek participated in this all day exercise on Saturday, 8 January 2005. Setting fires over and over again one room at a time, instructors watched and critiqued as crews advanced hoselines into the house and extinguished the flames. We managed to burn in just about every room on the second floor without having it get away from us, although there were some hairy times when flames reached the attic spaces. But quick thinking and hard work by the crews and the instructors kept everything under control.

Finally, early in the afternoon after every crew had gotten a chance to fight fire, we loaded up the house with the remaining pallets and hay, lit it all on fire and watched as the entire house was engulfed in flames. It was quite the conflagration, and many drivers pulled over on Olive Chapel Road to watch the show from a safe distance. After all was said and done, all that remained of the house was the foundation, the chimney, and a pile of smoldering ashes and debris.

Thanks to Cary and Fairview who both provided air trucks and filled a bunch of bottles for us - and to Swift Creek for bringing their tanker and setting up the drop tank as one of our water supplies!

Oh - by special request of the Cary firefighters - is this the photo you were looking for? Pictured is Captain Ruble. Click the photo to view a larger image in a separate browser window. (Photo by Issachar Modert)

Preparation1/12/05
Walkthrough of the House1/12/05
The Firefighters1/12/05
"Fire in the hole!"1/12/05