Skippack Fire Company would like to thank Toll Bothers for providing us the opportunity to train in a house on Collegeville Road that will soon be demolished. In addition to practicing basic skills like hose line advancement and search, access to acquired structures allows us to realistically perform more destructive tasks that are sometimes required during structure fires such as forcible entry, wall breaching, roof ventilation and more. This is especially true of houses like this one, which have been modified over time and may contain multiple layers of roofs and roofing materials, walled-off void spaces, varied wall construction, etc. This particular house had a good mix of building construction including stone walls, plaster on lath, and drywall, and both pitched and flat roofs, some with additional roofs below that also needed to be removed for effective ventilation.

We would also like to thank Perkiomen Township Fire Company and Worcester Volunteer Fire Department for participating in this training with us. Both companies often respond with us to incidents in Skippack and the ability to
train together helps us to work effectively together when genuine emergencies arise.