Area firefighters repurpose FEMA houses for skill building Chester homes on Route 11 now ready for demolition

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Last Tuesday, two houses near the Williams River along Route 11 in Chester were put to one final use before they are to be demolished as part of a FEMA buyout. Dozens of firefighters from West Weatherfield, Ascutney, Proctorsville, Winhall and Chester took part in a hands-on “destructive drill.”

Chester Fire Chief Scott Richardson says the exercise gives firefighters real world experience in two areas: ventilating a roof and escaping from a building when normal means are blocked. Ventilating a roof, Richardson says, helps to stop the flow of a fire and retarding its spread. It can also act as a chimney, helping reduce the heat in an area where firefighters are working.

The second portion of the drill gave the firefighters the chance to practice opening up a wall and escaping through the space between wall studs that is less than 16 inches wide. On the face of it, that may not seem like to hard a task. But add an air tank, face mask and helmet along with other bulky gear and it looks like something Harry Houdini specialized in.

Before getting under way, Training Officer Mark Verespy explained that the contractor who was to dismantle the building wanted to salvage counters and cabinets and other items, so the crews should avoid damaging those. In addition, the crews only ventilated the roof of the garage so any passing rainstorms would not douse the interior of the house.

As two-man crews scrambled up ladders to the roof,  the sound of chainsaws filled the air. Trainers gave firefighters tips on how to position themselves on the ladders to be both effective and safe. Proctorsville’s Seth Perry showed one group a safer way to restart a chainsaw by using the ladder to hold it down while pulling on the starter cord.

Inside the house, firefighters learned to back into the narrow space between studs, putting the air tank through first then pulling and twisting through the hole. And while there was no heat from a fire, many firefighters emerged having worked up a sweat.

Firefighters also worked on escaping from windows, a skill that could be used on upper as well as lower floors. The process involves going out of the window sideways and holding on to the window frame with one booted foot. The escaping firefighter can then assess the drop to the ground before letting go. Once again, wearing breathing apparatus and heavy turnout gear, this is easier said than done.

As dusk began to fall, one firefighter was heard to say that this beat doing the escape drills back in the fire station.

Chief Richardson told The Telegraph that the demolition of the two houses had been moved up so this would be the last chance for the fire departments to use them to sharpen their skills.