A series of live burns will not only help firefighters, they will help the city.

This morning the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department burned two houses on Vine Street, houses that are unfit for firefighters to train in like they plan beginning Saturday, Chief Gary Corbet said.

(The complete series of photos can be found on our Facebook page)

There is also a higher aim in the burns and that is to help rid Vine Street of several dilapidated structures to pave the way for renovations in the community.

In 2010 the city received an $850,000 Community Development Block Grant for renovations to the area, including demolition and redevelopment of five houses. The grant will also address issues on Piland, Andrew and Taft Street.

Battalion Chief Mike Clements checks the fire he set.

“We’re happy to help the city out,” Corbet said. “It’s lot a cheaper to haul this off than to have someone come in and demolish them. We’re happy to save a little money.”

There will be two houses that will have to be demolished because they are too close to active power lines.

Today’s controlled burns were minor to the ones that begin Saturday, when firefighters enter the burning houses to get live training. “We’re opening up to the county firefighters. It gets us to know them and them know to us.”

In addition to Saturday’s live burn, there will be one on Monday and another next Wednesday.

A firefighter peers into the first house.

While firefighters did not enter the two houses burned today, there were still lessons carried away from the fires, Corbet and Deputy Chief Stacy Coggins said. “We let them do a little ladder work. We’ve got some new firefighters and some of them had never seen a house with a tin roof on it,” Corbet said. “It holds it in and then pushes it out.”

Coggins said some scout work showed evidence of squatters, which meant firefighters had to be careful about inspecting the houses that were to be burned today.

The firefighters got in training on fire behavior, hose placement and ventilation. They also learned about smoke behavior, which focuses on looking at smoke instead of flames to learn more about how fire will behave. “With the newer guys we can make sure they’re doing their jobs safely and efficiently,” Coggins said.