Sentinel staff report–
Citrus Heights residents may have seen or smelled smoke in the air on Monday and Tuesday this week near Sylvan Road, as Metro Fire crews conducted “live fire” training at Bayside Church.
In a press release Sunday afternoon, Metro Fire said buildings at the Bayside Church property slated for demolition would be used for the training exercise.
Video footage released Monday afternoon showed a vacant building at the site being burned, with firefighters breaking a window to enter and extinguish the blaze, as well as spray down the roof with high pressure hoses.
Fire officials thanked Bayside Church for making the training possible, saying that “live fire training provides the only realistic conditions for firefighter training so that we can maintain our skills, proficiency, and train newer personnel in the situations we face during emergency response.”
Metro Fire said crews will also be conducting non-destructive training over the following three weeks at the site.
