PHOTOS: Fayetteville Fire Department conducts training at Maple Street Apartments

Firefighters conduct a roof breach exercise at a Maple Street Apartments building near Frisco Trail and Lafayette Street in Fayetteville.

Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer

With a large-scale student housing complex set to soon take over an entire downtown block, removal of a few area buildings and houses is on the horizon.

A vacant church at the corner of Maple Street and West Avenue will be the first to go with demolition set to begin as early as Monday, March 19.

Next door, the Maple Street Apartments will soon follow, but not before the Fayetteville Fire Department spends a few days training at the vacant complex.

Apartment manager Stephan Pollard said the building’s owner gave the fire department permission to use the complex as temporary training grounds for basic firefighting skills.

Firefighters began exercises earlier this week and will continue to use the property through Thursday afternoon.

Pollard took some photos of the department on Tuesday as they conducted wall breaches, roof breaches, and simulated rescues of all sorts.

He shared a handful of those photos with us:

Above photos by Stephan Pollard