Green Country Family Donates Dilapidated Home To Firefighter Training

A Green Country family offers up a house, so firefighters can burn it down and train in a more "real life" situation.

Black smoke is billowing, and a bright a fire is burning.

It may appear to be the scene of a real-life fire.

But instead, it's one of the few cases where it's OK to play with fire.

"It's very rare that homes become available for us to practice and play with," Bartlesville Assistant Fire Chief Bill Hollander said.

The Bartlesville Fire Department was given this unique opportunity, thanks to the Craig family.

"This homeowner is going to be destroying this house and building a new one on the property and we get to play and practice with fire," Hollander said.

The Craig's bought this piece of land about a year ago, knowing this house would have to go.

So Kourtney Craig gave the fire department a call, on the off-chance they could use the house.

"I swore that he was probably on the other end of the line laughing at me, but wasn't," Craig said.

The fire department actually jumped at the chance.

The split-level house was the perfect place to train firefighters for real-life situations.

"When you run across a basement, it's a real challenge and it teaches these guys how to scoot downstairs quickly and have their hose situated and ready to go when they get to that basement fire," Hollander said.

Over the course of two days firefighters from three different states put out 20 fires.

As for the Craig family, whether it was playing on the fire truck...or just taking in all the action...

"I think they're kind of intrigued, from afar," Craig said.

Due of environmental protection rules, it's typically difficult and costly to hold fire training at residences.

But fire officials say they were able to cut deal with some of the agencies they worked with for a lower price.