ASHLAND — If you noticed smoke in the middle of Ashland’s downtown this evening, don’t be alarmed.
It likely came from the seventh annual “Live Burn” event, hosted by Ashland Main Street. The annual event took place Thursday night in honor of Fire Prevention Week. Each year, a wooden structure is built and burned to demonstrate how quickly one’s home can be engulfed in flames.
“Technically, this week is supposed to be about kitchen fires, but we don’t have permission to blow up a stove,” joked Sandra Tunnell, the executive director of Ashland Main Street, before the event.
Tunnell shared Ashland Main Street’s upcoming list of events.
Fire Prevention Captain Mark Miller told the audience — mostly families with children — that what they would see is how quickly a fire will spread once it starts.
The structure had three “cells,” or rooms. The fire began in the middle one. A door was open between the center cell and one cell, and closed between the center cell and the other.
A panda sat on the bed in the room with the closed door. Tunnell said the panda has survived through four live burn events. Miller said closing a bedroom door can offer extra time to react in the event of a fire.
In just three and a half minutes, two out of the three rooms were engulfed in flame.
Miller narrated to the audience as the smoke alarm went off and the flames grew. Then, firefighters put it out. People had a chance to look at the wreckage once the fire was safely out.
