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Crime & Safety

(VIDEO) House Set Ablaze for Firefighter Training

Area fire departments practiced firefighting techniques on a soon-to-be razed home Thursday.

Several rooms burned inside a home located at 8849 Minnetonka Blvd. in St. Louis Park Thursday night, and that's just what west metro firefighters wanted.

A developer asked the St. Louis Park Fire Department if they would be interested in doing some training exercises at the house before it's torn down to make way for new developments on the property.

St. Louis Park fire officials accepted the invitation and asked firefighters from Golden Valley, Hopkins and Minnetonka to come to the property as well to take advantage of the rare chance to do live-burn training inside a real home.

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About 60 firefighters took part in the exercise Wednesday evening, and another 60 showed up the following night. 

"This gave us an opportunity to put them inside a room, start a fire in the corner of a room, and gave them an opportunity to see what a fire does as it builds, comes across the ceiling," said Mike Dobesh, the assistant fire chief in St. Louis Park. 

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"This is an opportunity to practice some of the attacks and what effect those attacks have," he added.

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