Firefighters from departments across the county will converge on three homes tonight, Saturday and Sunday to take part in a learning experience: controlled burns.

According to Lt. Doug Bissette with Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS, the first of three houses will go up in flames late this afternoon and drills are expected to continue into the night.

The houses, which are slated to be demolished by the general contracting company WIMCO to make way for a Washington Eye Center, are located on Carolina Avenue (U.S. Highway 17 business) across from Lowe’s Home Improvement.

“WIMCO asked us if we could use them,” Bissette said. “We’re going to take advantage of any training we can get, so we jumped right on it.”

Bissette said hosting agencies have as many as 50 to 70 firefighters show up to get lessons in live fire situations from experienced instructors. He pointed out the importance of inviting instructors like Capt. Rob Loreman of Goldsboro Fire Department, who bring different techniques to the table.

“He’s an excellent live fire instructor,” Bissette said. “He can see with an outside eye and give us some pointers.”

The pointers refer to the different drills they’ll be running in a simulated situation as close to live fire as it gets.

“We do it just to give our people training, to make sure they know what to do in a real fire,” Bissette explained, adding that controlled burns give firefighters the opportunity to practice searching a house in smoke and fire. “It gives them some real-life experience in a training setting.”

Bissette explained that while he handles the paperwork and lining up instructors, the event is sponsored by Beaufort County Community College. The last controlled burn Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS hosted was a Pantego home in March.

Today’s controlled burn will start around 4:30 p.m. and will wrap up around 10 p.m. tonight, Bissette said.