The Demopolis Fire and Rescue Department will undergo its annual testing this week when it goes through a test burn.

“Each year we take our fire department and test ourselves, make sure we’re meeting the mark and make sure citizens get the very best with each call,” DFRD Chief Ronnie Few said.

In order to make sure all three shifts are on the same page in terms of training and know-how, Few said all department members will be participating in the training Friday.

“I’m looking for continuity in the department, making sure that all three shifts operate the same way,” Few said.

Weather permitting, the department will begin at 8 a.m. Friday at 914 Fourth Avenue where it will deal with a controlled test burn.

The test will examine all phases of how the department approaches a fire from the time it arrives on scene until it returns to the station.

“9-1-1 is probably going to cut three tapes of the incident commanders setting up different strategies at the fire scene,” Few said. “We’re doing that in order to make sure he is looking at his strategy from every angle. With the firefighters themselves, we are looking for how they search a building, how they extinguish and how they rescue people out of a building.”

In addition to those facets of firefighting, the department will examine the way in which information is disseminated to later responders that arrive on scene.

“We want to make sure the continuity of information is not broken,” Few said. “Another portion is that our safety officer understands his role at the fire scene. So much is going to be going on at the scene. And it tests our ability to fight a fire, fight it safely and rescue individuals out of buildings.”