FOLEY, Ala. — Weather permitting, Foley Fire Department will conduct a live fire training burn at 208 W. Violet Ave. on Friday.

The exercise will begin at 10 a.m. with various training scenarios to be incorporated throughout the day, according to Capt. Thomas Kiel of FFD. After all scenarios are complete, the structure donated to FFD by members of First Baptist Church in 2007 will be burned to the ground starting at approximately 5 p.m.

“It’s going to draw some attention,” said Kiel, adding that a perimeter will be set up around the exercise site.

“Just be sure to stay back outside the perimeter so nobody will be hurt,” he urged those who might want to watch the burn.

In actuality, FFD and other fire departments helping with the burn are returning to the site of a recent landmark fire in the city. It was August 2003 when First Baptist Church’s Christian Life Center adjacent to the church burned. It was a fire that required hours to extinguish and resulted in a response from fire departments all over the county.

The live fire training burn will not only include fire departments from surrounding areas but also municipal departments within Foley, Kiel said.

“This training burn will afford us the opportunity to train on live fire situations and to work together with other departments that we respond with on a regular basis,” he said.

“Training firefighters in situations like the ones we can create at this location is a rare and priceless opportunity for us here in Foley.”

For those who will be spectators at the training event and burn site, Friday’s experience will offer a lesson for them as well, according to Kiel.

“They’ll be able to see these are the guys protecting all of us. They are training for you.”

Firefighters will prepare, conduct and execute such tasks as advancing hand lines, cutting ventilation holes, breaching walls and floors, and rescuing fallen firefighters, Kiel said.

“We will also learn about fire growth and the process it takes to determine a fire’s origin and cause by learning about different burn patterns,” he said.

Once those scenarios are complete, the structure will be burned. If weather on Friday is unsuitable for training, the event will be rescheduled.

Kiel said Foley Implement Co., the local John Deere dealership, has donated a backhoe for use by FFD on Friday. The equipment will be used to push down trees at the burn site, smash in the side of the structure and any other need that might arise during the training and burn.