It may have looked like a real fire call, but Grass Valley and Nevada County Consolidated fire personnel were actually doing training yesterday on a commercial building that is scheduled for demolition.  The building being torn down is the old Straka Building in the 200 block of East Main Street which housed John and Pat Straka AllState Insurance. Nevada County Consolidated Fire Chief Jim Turner says it used to be more frequent to find buildings scheduled to be demolished to be used for training, but now they are few and far between because most buildings are re-modeled and not torn down. Yesterday, the fire crews trained on vertical ventilation techniques and ladders.

click to listen to NCC Fire Chief Jim turner

Although crews can train with ventilation props on the training grounds, Chief Turner says opportunities to train on a real building like this are very valuable. Once the building is demolished, Hansen Brothers will be putting in a new parking lot at the location to expand parking for Maria’s Restaurant which is next door.