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Several fire departments’ firefighters-in-training and veteran personnel were at Camp Ojiketa in Chisago City last weekend for a major exercise in firefighting skills.

Stacy-Lent; Lindstrom; Chisago City; Wyoming; Center City and White Bear Lake departments were on-site.

The Campfire camp officials allowed the departments to burn four obsolete cabins. First-- any nearby trees were coated with a fire retardant that shows up in photos as white on the trunks and limbs.

The cabins were torched (some were filled with wood pallets to speed the burn) and instructors from Pine Technical College monitored various training aspects. Some participants were learning how to adjust hose pressure, handle the controls and valves on the trucks and direct the hose spray...others were learning about fire behavior and progression and what to watch for. When the training was done, the filing cabinet, right, was about the only thing left behind.

The exercise drew a few on-lookers as black smoke billowed high in the air and emergency rigs went in and out of the camp entry road on the south end of Green Lake. Lakes Area Emergency Medical Service also had a rig on-hand.

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