Rockland: Firefighter training exercise sparks real fire

A firefighting training exercise unexpectedly turned real in Rockland on Thursday morning.

Rockland Fire Chief Scott Duffey says that around 10 a.m. the Rockland Fire Department and the Abington Fire department were doing a training exercise at 136 Weymouth Street–a building set to be demolished as part of the development of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station.

Crews were practicing cutting through the roof of the building, when a spark from a saw lit the insulation in the roof on fire.

“You don’t see it every day,” said Chief Duffy. “But it was good that we had enough manpower doing training that they were able to quickly get hold of the situation.”

The fire was knocked down by about 10:30 a.m.