Massive 3-story Grand Blanc Township home becomes training ground for firefighte

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Massive 3-story Grand Blanc Township home becomes training ground

for firefighters, then demolished

by Sally York | The Flint Journal

Monday December 08, 2008, 7:34 PM

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/12/massive_3story_gr

and_blanc_tow.html

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Vince and Marilyn Bandurski bought

the mini-mansion next door with one purpose in mind.

Destroying it.

But before the house came down, Grand Blanc firefighters got to use

the fanciest training ground they have ever had.

" We literally tore the house apart, " said Grand Blanc Fire Chief

Harmes. " It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "

Before the training session, the place looked beautiful from the

outside -- three stories made of brick nestled on rolling acreage

along McCandlish Road, between Vassar and Saginaw roads.

But the inside was ruined by mold.

" Everything in it was black -- even behind the wall board, " said

Marilyn Bandurski, a retired teacher at Grand Blanc High School. " It

smelled so bad. And you had to wear a respirator to go inside. You

could not breathe. "

The former homeowner lived out of state, the Bandurskis believe, so

when a water pipe burst two winters ago, no one was around to stop

the flow.

" It must have run for days, " Bandurski said. " When we saw water in

the back yard, we notified the police. "

The standing water was never removed, and the mold got worse and

worse.

The front door buckled, and people would get into the house at

night, Bandurski said. The property wasn't mowed regularly, so the

couple took on the job themselves.

Eventually, the house fell into foreclosure. After waiting out a

long redemption period, the Bandurskis bought it.

They paid " way too much " for the house and 10 acres, Bandurski said,

but they were determined to " clean up the neighborhood. "

But first, they wanted to help out their local firefighters.

" They are such a great group, " Bandurski said. " We wanted to give

young firefighters a chance to practice what they learn in books. "

On Nov. 29, about 40 people -- firefighters in training, young Fire

Explorers and seasoned personnel -- spent five hours staging rescue

scenes, cutting holes in the brick walls and studying how a house is

constructed and how it collapses.

They all wore masks to protect from the mold, which turned white

after the demolition firm -- Bateman Excavating -- threw open the

windows for a few days in advance.

" We trained in it real heavily, " Harmes said. " It was very gracious

of the Bandurskis. "

Within two hours after the firefighters left, the house was gone.

Bateman has filled in the basement and will return this spring to

plant, Bandurski said.

The couple's home now sits on 20 acres instead of 10. And the deer

are coming back, Bandurski said.

" It's beautiful now, " she said.