CHAMPAIGN — If you passed through South Prairie Street in downtown Champaign last week, you might have seen smoke rising from homes in the 300 block and assumed the worst — that is, until you came to yellow caution tape and a sign reading “FIRE TRAINING AHEAD.”
“We’ve already had one responsible citizen try to call 911 because they saw the theater smoke,” said J.P. Childers, the department’s battalion chief of training.
The Champaign Fire Department was in the neighborhood on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to perform training drills on two houses that will later be demolished by Royse and Brinkmeyer to make way for new townhomes.
“We’re doing a coordinated fire attack where we simulate fire conditions with artificial smoke or theater smoke,” Childers said during the Thursday morning session at 306 S. Prairie St. “And we extend hose lines, we do primary searches and things of that nature, and ventilation.”
He added that the training was also a chance for firefighters to “size up” conditions and practice radio reports.
When asked how the department finds houses to perform drills in, Childers said it’s often a matter of community relationships. In this case, the fire department heard about the Prairie Street properties from town halls being held by Royse and Brinkmeyer Apartments.
“We contacted the property owner, and they were all about letting us in there,” he said. “So we owe a big shoutout to Royse and Brinkmeyer for helping us train. We do have facilities we could train in, but they’re not real buildings. And so there’s nothing like being in a real structure for fire training.”
Childers noted that actual fire wasn’t used in the drills, and the theater smoke was water-based and non-toxic.
Demolition on the two properties being used for the drills could potentially begin in the next few weeks, though the details are still being ironed out, said Royse and Brinkmeyer CEO Collin Carlier.
The two houses at 306 and 308 S. Prairie St. belong to the company and were previously rented out. However, they are set to be torn down as part of a development project, along with the neighboring Prairie Place apartments.
Once these properties are torn down, they will be replaced with townhomes. The company also plans to build a loft building east of the townhomes and a five-story apartment building in the vacant lots at 303 and 305 S. State St. Existing apartment building nearby at 307, 309 and 315 S. State St. will remain.
Tenants have moved out of the properties that are set for demolition, and Carlier said that nearly all of the Prairie Place residents signed leases at other Royse and Brinkmeyer properties.
He declined to speculate on when the Prairie Place apartments might be torn down.
“If you look at Prairie Place, there is a lot of plastic up, because we do have some abatement going on, which is all pre-demolition work,” Carlier said.
Mike Royse, majority owner of Royse and Brinkmeyer, said the company hopes to begin construction this summer and finish the project next summer.
It’s estimated that the townhomes and loft building will take about 11 months to build, Carlier said. The five-story apartment building is expected to take 15 months.
