Norwalk firefighters proceed to the top of an Orchard Street building Friday.

Photo Credit: Nancy Guenther Chapman

Norwalk firefighters train in the Waypointe area Friday, using a truck delivered to the department a year ago. The truck has been at the scene of many fires.

Photo Credit: Nancy Guenther Chapman

Norwalk firefighters survey Orchard Street from the top of a vacant building Friday.

Photo Credit: Nancy Guenther Chapman

This tractor-drawn aerial ladder fire truck was built to Norwalk Fire Department specifications.

Photo Credit: Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk firefighters scaled the heights Friday, making good use of a building that is soon to be no more.

The firefighters were on Orchard Street, training in a vacant building that will be demolished to make way for the Waypointe development. Deputy Chief Edward Prescott said using a real building is invaluable for training purposes. "We can break the doors, we can practice getting through walls, cutting the roofs so that in real time, when the fire occurs, we're just more in tune with it and it becomes second nature" he said. "There's nothing like the opportunity of training on different buildings with different type of construction and so forth."

The Norwalk Police Department has used buildings in the area. On Dec. 20, canine units from Stamford, Fairfield and other Fairfield County departments met with Officer Frank Reda to train in a building on Merwin Street.

Prescott said he believed the police department had done other training in the buildings, where it is possible to throw a flash grenade without concern.

Firefighters were practicing Friday with their tractor-drawn aerial ladder fire truck, which the department has had for more than a year. The truck was ordered in late 2009 at a price not to exceed $854,737, according to documents available online. It was specially built for the Norwalk Fire Department with a height of 10 feet, 10 inches so it can be used on the Merritt Parkway. The longer carriage of the truck means more tools can be carried to structure fires.

The fire department has a training facility near the Department of Public Works building, Prescott said, but hasn't used it for two years because work is being done at the sewage treatment plant. He expects it will reopen for training by summer.

The opportunity to train at a vacant building happens about twice a year, he said.