Fire training

They frustrated onlookers who were eager to see flames, but members of several local fire departments accomplished hours of valuable training Saturday, January 29 before finally reducing a derelict H Avenue home to ashes. The home, most recently owned by the late Ray Jones, was once a farmhouse. The city’s south side, anything south of about 22nd Avenue, was rural. This location was a seed farm. The first photo was taken a few minutes after the firefighters decided to let the fire burn. The second shows the instant the front door burned away from its hinges, falling into the front yard. The third shows firefighters keeping things cool on the west side of the house, and the third shows the burning structure shortly before it collapsed. Dozens of people gathered to watch the fire and take photographs, and many more filed by in cars, drawn by the smoke.