Naples Fire Rescue teams up with conservation group to train at building set for demolition

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is about to demolish one of their buildings, but it’s not going down without some extra purpose.

Crews will begin tearing down the unoccupied Blair Dormitory will begin in October.

Before that the Greater Naples Fire Rescue District was able to use it for training to find a lost firefighter.

According to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a course was created to give Naples Fire Rescue experience rescuing a trapped or lost firefighter from Aug. 29-31 inside the dormitory.

Because it was already scheduled for demolition, this offered firefighters the opportunity to act as if the training were a real scenario.

“It is not often that we have the opportunity to train in a building that allows us to have ‘real life’ training. Most of our training is conducted in an atmosphere in which we have to be careful or already familiar with the ‘layout’ of the building,” said fire chief for Naples Fire Rescue, J. Nolan Sapp.