As the team of firemen disembark and the Chief reports "Dispatch, units on scene - structure fully engulfed" you feel some relief. Relief in knowing that the experts are ready to save your life and your possessions. 
To become the experts that they are, firefighters must train in the most realistic environments possible. Saturday evening, Miami County fire crews had the opportunity to train with the real thing, fire.
"This training is real important," said John Borchers, a Tipp City firefighter. "The more you practice something, the more confident you are about it.  "Fire Force Inc. of Groveport was brought to Troy for a training session using its aircraft and railroad tanker fire simulators. The flame, burning on liquid propane, proves to be a formidable foe for the firefighters. On the tanker several teams are required to control the flames spewing from the center of the rail car. For the aircraft, firefighters must control the flames and protect rescue teams sent inside the fuselage to locate and rescue victims.

More than 50 firefighters from Troy, Piqua, Tipp City, Fletcher, Pleasant Hill, Ludlow Falls, New Carlisle and Casstown gathered together at the city maintenance and garage facility on Experiment Farm Road in Troy for the fire/hazardous materials training exercise. 

For area firefighters this was the second in a continuing curriculum that makes them masters in their field. The last time Fire Force Inc. was in Miami county was in 1997 at the Piqua Hartzell Airport.

The training exercise, sponsored and funded by the Miami County Local Emergency Planning Committee, coordinated by the Troy Fire Department, was designed to provide local firefighters the knowledge and experience to handle a possible similar disaster for real.