Redmond Fire burns a home down, for practice

After a year of using a small, donated southwest Redmond home for fire and police training, the opportunity came Friday to finish the job and burn the rest of the home, sending up a smoke column that prompted predictable concern from passing motorists.

Fifteen fire department members were on scene for the practice burn, ignited around 10 a.m. at the home at Southwest 35th Street and Antler Avenue, said to Redmond Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief Dave Pickhardt.

No structures were close enough to be threatened, but previous plans to burn the home had been called off due to it being too windy or other considerations, Pickhardt said. But on Friday, with little wind and more crews on duty, “we jumped on it,” he said.

There wasn’t much left to salvage: “We’d torn it up, the roof was torn off – it looked like an abandoned house,” Pickhardt explained.