About 150 residents took part on Wednesday in fire-extinguisher training classes that were free to the public and conducted by the Greeneville Fire Department at the General Morgan Inn.

Classes began at 8 a.m. and were repeated each hour throughout the day until 6 p.m. Each class lasted approximately 45 minutes.

Reservations were not required, but classes were limited to 25 participants and were conducted on a first-come, first-served basis.

At the conclusion of the classes, each participant received a home fire extinguisher, according to Greeneville Fire Marshal Alan Shipley.

The GFD had acquired 1,000 two-pound, dry-chemical fire extinguishers for distribution to citizens who complete the fire-extinguisher training classes, thanks to a federal fire prevention grant the department received in 2008, according to Shipley.

To date, he said, more than 600 of the fire extinguishers have been distributed.

GFD Chief Mark Foulks said the department purposely chose small, general-purpose fire extinguishers for distribution.

"One point of our fire-extinguisher training is to teach residents when not to attempt to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher," Foulks said. "We felt larger extinguishers might encourage residents to remain inside burning structures too long."

Firefighters from Greeneville's four fire stations took turns conducting the classes on Wednesday.

The firefighters, he said, used a computer-based fire-extinguisher simulator to teach residents how properly use a fire extinguisher.

The simulator projects an image of a fire onto a movie screen and students then use a fire extinguisher filled with compressed air to simulate extinguishing the fire.

On a computer, firefighters can increase or decrease the intensity of the flames when students demonstrate the correct firefighting technique, the chief said.

Fire Marshal Shipley said the fire department continues to install smoke alarms in the homes of Greeneville residents who cannot afford to purchase smoke alarms.
About 2,500 smoke alarms have been installed by GFD firefighters since the program began in 2008.