UP IN SMOKE -- In sharp contrast to the dedicated efforts of hundreds of construction
workers this weekend as they build a home in 36 hours for the "Houseraising of Hope,"
DPS officers spent Sunday morning burning down the old storage building T-7 in the
northern part of town. Several officers suffered from fatigue and smoke irritation but
the planned burned went without a hitch, sending billowing clouds of smoke high into
the sky. The dark smoke was visible throughout central Arkansas. (Maumelle Monitor
Photo by David Prichard)

Maumelle Monitor
September 30, 1987

Members of Maumelle Volunteer Fire Department and Department of Public Safety received valuable training Sunday through a series of firefighting drills at the old "T-7" building located at Odom North Boulevard and Woodland Drive.

Designated to be torn down for future development, the fire department received permission to burn the structure and practice fire-fighting techniques.

Left over from the World War II ordnance plant, the building was used until recently as a maintenance shop for Maumelle Land Development before the city moved the shop to a new location in the industrial district.

DPS officers practices several "burns" throughout this past week in various portions of the building, but members of the volunteer fire department joined in Sunday for a series of extensive training drills. Firefighters divided up into three squads and practiced putting out small fires and saving a "dummy" victim from a burning room throughout most of Sunday morning.

After lunch, the firemen set a large blaze which encompassed most of the building in order to practice battling a raging fire. Approximately 18 minutes after the blaze had begun, firefighters turned off the water to let the building burn to the ground.

CHIEF PEP TALK -- DPS Chief Norman Mosely goes over the "game plan" of
Sunday's burning of the old T-7 maintenance building with members of the
Maumelle Volunteer Fire Department. (Photo by David Prichard)

A HELPING HAND -- DPS Officer Greg McPhail gives a Maumelle volunteer fireman
a helping hand with the proper way to suit up for a trip into a burning building by
not exposing any skin to the tremendous heat. Air tanks with face masks allow
firefighters to battle the blaze inside a smoky structure. (Photo by David Prichard)

FIERY ENTRANCE -- A wall of flame greets firefighters as they try to
hose down a doorway at T-7. (Photo by David Prichard)

BIG SPRAY -- Maumelle firefighters concentrate a stream of water from their
"deluge gun" on the rafters of the T-7 building. The deluge gun is capable
of spraying 1,000 gallons of water per minute on a fire. (Photo by David Prichard)

THE END RESULT -- An hour after the final blaze was set, all that
remained of the old T-7 building was a low pile of smoldering rubble.
(Photo by David Prichard)