Bowling Green Fire Department helmets and oxygen tanks sit on the sidewalk outside the former Pizza Hut by the Greenwood Mall on Scottsville Road in Bowling Green, Ky., on Wednesday, Aug 17, 2022, as firefighters on the C shift discuss the training session they completed at the vacant building. The training sessions, which allow the firefighters the opportunity to practice locating the source of a fire, extinguishing the flames and rescuing a victim, will continue three times each day through Friday afternoon. (Grace Ramey/gramey@bgdailynews.com)

The Bowling Green Fire Department began a three-day training session Wednesday at the former Pizza Hut on Scottsville Road.

The training, which puts firefighters through an active fire and medical assist scenario inside the vacant building, will continue three times each day until Friday afternoon for each shift to have the opportunity to train.

“We conduct these trainings any time we are allowed access to buildings that will be demolished within the city,” BGFD Public Information Officer Katie McKee said. “We either gain knowledge about a possible building demolition and reach out to the property owners ourselves, or individuals will personally reach out to our department and let us know about the building demolition and the process goes from there.”

Once on site, firefighters practice pulling hoses, locating sources of fire, extracting victims, dousing flames and “perfecting several different training techniques,” she said.

“We use these acquired structures to practice different scenarios that could occur in real life and gain knowledge on different layouts of buildings located in our community,” McKee said. “We love being able to do these trainings because we don’t know this layout. It’s their first time seeing it so it’s like a real-life scenario.”

The BGFD has conducted similar training sessions in structures set to be torn down the past few years, such as the former Country Hearth Inn site near the National Corvette Museum last October and a BGFD-owned home on the 1200 block of Kenton Street in 2020.

“We are extremely appreciative to have access to these buildings,” McKee said. “It allows us to have unique training opportunities and do what we can to make our department and our community better.”

The vacant Pizza Hut building is scheduled to be demolished next week to make way for a Mission BBQ location.