Staff Writer

Some high school students are learning valuable lessons about fighting fires, this week.

Sgt. Jeff Berry and Firefighter Mike Rhodes, both of the Troy Fire Department, taught students of the Troy-Pike Center for Technology the proper way to put out a fire on Tuesday.

The life- and property-saving lessons will continue today. Over the two-day period, students from Charles Henderson High School, Pike County High School, Goshen High School and Banks Middle School will have learned about the right way to fight a fire.

Berry, a 17-year veteran of the fire service, taught the students about the different classifications of fire and tips on how to remember them. Class A fires can be remembered because they leave ash; they are the result of burning things like paper and wood. Substances from Class B fires come from bottles, such as gasoline and other flammable liquids. A Class C fire can be remembered by the word "current" since it is the result of energized electricity. And, the rarest, Class D fires result from burning metals.

Each kind of fire has to be fought in a different manner. For example, an electrical fire should not be fought with water since that could cause a person to be electrocuted.

The best option to fight most fires is using a fire extinguisher.

"You don’t need to play with these," Berry said of the 10-pound fire extinguisher he was holding.

"Once you discharge this, get out of the building."

Since a fire extinguisher eliminates the oxygen needed to keep a fire going, it also depletes a room of oxygen.

But, after the fire is out and a person has cleared out, he or she still has a job to do.

After each usage a fire extinguisher should be serviced and recharged.

"A fire extinguisher hanging on the wall with no pressure is no good," Berry said.

After the lesson on the different types of fires, some students had the opportunity to turn their knowledge into action.

The firefighters set a gasoline fire in a contained area so the students could practice using a fire extinguisher.

Josh Brown and Tacyln Terry both had a chance to pick up the 10-pound red cylinder and spray the fire-extinguishing foam.