A controlled burn two miles southwest of Mitchell Saturday morning gave the new Blumenort Fire Department a chance to get some valuable experience.

Hanover Fire Chief Paul Wiebe says Blumenort firefighters have been training for just over two years now and they are trying to get them into as many real situations as possible. He notes a house on Road 34 North needed to come down so it was a good opportunity to let them run the scene. He adds a number of firefighters from their other three Hanover departments also attended the fire for backup.

"We light it up, in this case, we had Blumenort staging about a mile away and then we called them in so that they would get the actual experience of rolling up on a fire making the decisions as to how to distribute rolls for each firefighter. It is a training exercise but we try and make it as real as we can."

Blumenort Deputy District Fire Chief Roberto Hiebert says it was exciting to have the opportunity to run the scene as a department. He notes every bit of experience is helpful.

"With the Kleefeld and Bothwell and Grunthal stations supporting us, we know that we have the confidence to go in and make mistakes and learn from that if we have to and that way we will be able to serve our community better when we go live."

Josh and Judy Fehr with their kids