Act of Generosity Helps Police, Fire Conduct Training Exercises
Training exercises are crucial for first responders to prepare them for what they may encounter in real life.
And Monday afternoon, Brooklyn Park police had a unique opportunity.
“We’re primarily focused on breaching, which focuses on opening up holes in the outside of the house, either through doors or windows, or find alternative methods to open outside the house,” said Brooklyn Park police Patrol Sgt. Ben Bierbaum.
Those methods may include a loud explosion or two, which isn’t typical in a quiet residential neighborhood.
“It’s hard to mock up what we experience in real life in training venues, even with the different training facades,” said Bierbaum. “We’re very grateful to have the opportunity.”
However, not long ago, the site of this training exercise was home to Liz Foltynski and her family.
“This house came on the market and we weren’t really looking to move ’cause we had just moved,” said Foltynski. “But it spoke to us, so we’re like, we’re packing up and moving to Brooklyn Park.”
That was in 2020. But on July 5 of last year, tragedy struck.
“This tree here had fallen, and it ran the entire span of the house,” she said. “The tree fell about 12:30 in the morning. We caught it on our camera.”
The Foltynski family wasn’t home at the time, but when they returned, they discovered a tree weighing an estimated 15,000 pounds had crashed through their kitchen, bathroom and chimney.
A section of the tree protruding into the Foltynski family’s Brooklyn Park kitchen.
“No storm. The arborist said the tree was waterlogged from all the rain we had received. there was a small amount of dry rot, and with all the water that it had, it was just so heavy that it couldn’t take the weight anymore,” Foltynski said.
The damage was so severe that the home was deemed to be a total loss.
“I said to my husband, we talked about it, I said, ‘we need to find something good to come out of this,'” she said.
Ultimately, the family decided to open their home to the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center and let first responders use it for training, which could one day, help save lives.
“I’m just very grateful that no one’s hurt, and now they’re just taking an unfortunate incident where property got damaged and then turning into such a valuable resource for the community,” said Bierbaum. “That’s very beneficial to [Brooklyn Park police] and the Brooklyn Center Fire Department. We’re very grateful for the opportunity to train in this house.”
“We’re giving back to the community in a way that we hope will help someone else in the future,” added Foltynski.
The idea for training came about, in part, because Foltynski’s husband is a Brooklyn Center fire inspector.
Meanwhile, there are a few more training exercises scheduled for next week. The family will then tear down the house and build a new one in the same location.
The fallen tree on top of the Foltynski family’s house.
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