By Rosalind Russell – Doing the Happy Dance … Why is everybody so happy? After all it’s just a big red storage shed! But it is a lot more than that.
Grant Lewis, the Espanola Lions Club spokesperson, says gathered around the structure are members of the Lions Club, staff and students from Espanola High School and volunteers from the Espanola Fire Department.
The shed was financed with a $4,000 donation from the Lions, donations of material from Espanola Home Hardware, built by the All-Girls Construction Class and welcomed by the Fire Department.
Seventeen girls built the framing, the floor, the walls, the strapping, the rafters, well… everything!
The siding was put on by the Senior Construction Class at the high school too.
It took a while to complete, but it was finally moved to an area behind the Public Works.
It is being used to store 13 sections of 8×10 panels used in training by the volunteer firefighters.
The panels can be attached to form various room configurations of a pretend house.
A tarp is used to cover the “house” and a smoke machine issued to simulate a real fire scenario.
The walls can be rearranged again to make a different “house”, so that the trainees never know what to expect.
Training sessions are every Wednesday from September till June. The shed will protect these valuable panels from the elements when not in use.
The students gain valuable learning opportunities; the firefighters gain an important tool for their job; and the residents of Espanola and area can feel more secure knowing that in case of a fire, the fire department has some very special training.
Photo provided
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