Goodwill Donates Unsold Items For Use In Moore Firefighter Training

Moore Firefighters are training in a house full of donated goods in order to prepare themselves for fighting flames in hoarder homes.

Goodwill donated several thousand pounds of items in order to fill this training facility, in order to give firefighters the most realistic hoarder home scenario.

The Moore Fire department says hoarder environments can increase flame intensity, and make it more difficult to safely locate or remove a victim.

Roughly 2800 pounds and $3000 worth of items were staged inside a home, items that Goodwill says it wasn’t able to resell.

Sophie Schwechheimer from Goodwill Of Central Oklahoma said sustainability is one of their priorities.

"We really value sustainability and diverting things from local landfills," Schwechheimer said. "We thought we could give these items another use."

The Moore Fire Department said this unique training is helping the environment and possibly saving lives.

"[It] helps us to stay oriented in zero-visibility conditions, and just be prepared to find people," MFD Capt. Brett Colcasure said.

Currently, only Moore firefighters are training at this facility, but Capt. Colcasure said he’s sure the department would be happy to accommodate any other metro agencies who are interested.