The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The Ottumwa Fire Department took the opportunity Monday to train some of its newest members.

Firefighters were at a condemned home on South Davis Street, practicing pulling out victims from a smoke filled room, as well as putting out small fires.

The department says that using old vacant buildings that have been condemned by the city is a great way to train for different scenarios.

“We just use this opportunity to train the new guys. Andy Ewing has been a firefighter for just a year now and Justin Clark was just hired about six months ago; so it is a real good opportunity to take advantage of a situation like this and do some good training for them,” said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Craff.

“I think it is important to train in different locations. We train out at the burn building and once you have been in there a few times you get used to it; so it is nice to be able to come out to an empty building and smoke it up and crawl through it; and it is different so you don't know what it is and you don't know what to expect a lot of the time. So it is good training for a new guy like me. I was a paramedic for three years and didn't know anything about fire, so it is good to come into that,” said Firefighter Justin Clark.

For more information on the Ottumwa Fire Department, contact Chief Tony Miller at 641-683-0666.