On Thursday, the Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Department was allowed the opportunity to use a soon-to-be demolished dorm building at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for training purposes.

On that day, members started early with some practice on forcible entry and wall breaching.

Dan Burkhouse, chief of the fire department, was grateful to take the opportunity that Pitt Bradford extended to the department.

“We were made aware of the dorm demolition, and we worked together with the school to make it possible to train our guys,” Burkhouse said.

Burkhouse explained that the firefighters formed crews and ran two complete evolutions of a simulated residential fire. Engines responded in to the scene and performed all tasks needed from pulling the first line to setting up water supply from a hydrant, as well as roof ventilation.

“We were grateful to take advantage of the opportunity. Usually, training is done in-house at the station, or we take our guys over to the fire school in Smethport. So, it was nice to have the rare opportunity to practice our simulations at the school,” he said.

The dorm, known as the Emily Dickinson house, is scheduled to be demolished within the week and eventually replaced with a new suite building to accommodate for the expanding student body on the campus.

Information posted to the university’s website on Feb. 24 indicated that construction on the new building, as well as a dining hall expansion, is slated to begin this summer and be finished for the 2018-19 academic year.

The new suite building will increase the number of beds on campus by 38, according to the website.