Kelly MartinArticle written by: ANDREW CARR, THE SENTINEL
Cumberlink.com
UPPER ALLEN TOWNSHIP — Messiah Lifeways in Upper Allen Township is teaming up with the township fire department for a pair of training drills in November and December, offering a unique opportunity for those firefighters. The drills, conducted at vacant cottages on Cherry Circle in the Messiah Lifeways campus, 100 Mt. Allen Drive, will help first responders train to fight fires if they were to occur in those buildings, as well as offer the chance to train in furnished buildings.
Training was conducted from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 25, and will continue those same hours on Dec. 16. “What we are doing is working on doing some training for basic firefighting techniques that we would use on an everyday basis on home similar to what is there,” Upper Allen Fire Department Chief James Salter said. “This gives us an opportunity to train in houses that are still put together and have some items in them that make it a little bit of a challenge for us.” Salter said it is a rare opportunity for firefighters to get training like this. “They are giving us a rare opportunity and a unique opportunity that a lot of people don’t get and we cant thank them enough for doing that,” he said. “With the help of Messiah in giving us these homes, we are making this training as realistic as we possibly can.” Salter said some of the cottages used for the training still have furniture inside them, which simulates situations that firefighters would find going into a residential home during an incident.
“We very rarely get houses donated to us,” he said. “We were going over plans for the new building and they said these buildings were already empty and a little bell rang in my head that said, ‘we would love to use these if we could.’”
Kristen Heisey, vice president of strategic development and marketing for Messiah Lifeways, said the cottages sit on the site of the future home of Village Square, a town village concept featuring 80 apartment homes with underground parking and numerous
lifestyle amenities, including a wellness and enrichment center, spa and bistro open Messiah Lifeways residents and the public aged 55 or older.
“The township knew that we are planning to do that, so the Upper Allen Fire Department asked if they could possibly use some of our vacated cottages because we have been moving people out of these 16 cottages since last year, and now they are sitting vacant until we are ready to tear them down next year,” she said.
Heisey said Messiah Lifeways was more than willing to partner with the fire department, to help ensure training to keep both their campus, as well as the township community at large safe.
“It’s great for the entire community to have firefighters who are well trained, who have actually simulated what they do in a real life situation,” she said. “From time to time they are called here for emergency situations, so our community is definitely benefiting from this and the confidence level of the firefighters.”
Karin Bisbee, director of gift development and communications for Messiah Lifeways, said she witnessed the first round of training in November, and was glad the organization was able to partner with the fire department. “We have called them before whenever we have done a construction project, they came and did a walkthrough so they would be familiar with all the elevators and all the new spaces on campus and we are really looking forward to keeping up with them as we build this new
building, so they know where all the exits are and get familiar with it in the unfortunate case they ever need to come,” she said. “The best Christmas present you could give a firefighter is to let them practice in a real home, it just doesn’t really happen.”
Training drills will be imitating smoky conditions, cutting through interior walls and more in
an effort to simulate rescue techniques.
Monthly drills may continue beyond these two dates until the cottages are permanently removed in 2015, Bisbee said.
