ROCKINGHAM — A thick, black plume of smoke rose above the treetops near Beverly Hills Baptist Church during lunchtime Monday.
While there was a house on fire, there was relatively no danger as the Rockingham Fire Department was using the home at 171 Cartledge Creek Road for a controlled burn.
The house, which displaced a family of six in 2014, is technically in the Northside Fire Department’s district, but because it falls within the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, the Rockingham department was allowed to use it, Chief Harold Isler said.
“We have to see some type of training value in them before we take them,” he said about using old homes for controlled burns.
The department was able to train in defensive operations and get in some nozzle practice.
Firefighters were spraying down trees close to the home and a nearby shed to keep the fire from spreading. They also put out several hot spots in the yard — and one across the street near the chief’s truck.
Isler said his crew was also able to practice relay operations, pumping water from one truck to another that had run out.
Some homes in past burns have been in good enough shape to allow for interior training, Isler said, but this wasn’t one of them.
The department is planning another controlled burn on Feb. 11 on the corner of Midway Road and Caroline Street.
