HUNTLEY – Just like in a true emergency, members of the Fox River Countryside Fire/Rescue District on Friday didn’t know what they would encounter when dispatchers called them to a Huntley firefighter training center, which throughout the morning posed as single-family homes and commercial buildings such as hotels.

In near darkness clouded with smoke from crackling fires fueled by hay and wooden pallets, they worked in and outside the steel structure alongside firefighters from about nine other agencies to battle the blaze and rescue an unknown number of dummies.

Although the fire was deliberately set for training purposes, Fox River Countryside Chief Greg Benson said the scenarios were no less dangerous than what firefighters encounter in the real world.