Firefighters practice on building slated for demolition

The saying goes that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

For a few hours Tuesday, Newport Beach firefighters put an eyesore at Dover Drive and Coast Highway to good use, using what will soon be a pile of rubble as their own personal training ground.

“We love to train on active buildings before they get bulldozed,” said Todd Knipp, a Newport Beach fire battalion chief.

Knipp and other firefighters used the abandoned building, donated by a private company that plans to demolish it, for vertical ventilation training, where they cut holes in the roof.

The ventilation is important to help alleviate pressure gathering inside the building as a fire grows, and it increases visibility for firefighters inside by letting the smoke exit.

— Joseph Serna