Only 12 seats left for commercial fireground training in Brownsburg

Misfits Fire Training Foundation, Firefighter Air and Brownsburg Fire Territory are offering a rare hands-on training day inside the HarperCollins Brownsburg facility before construction finishes. The Sept. 8-9 event is designed to help firefighters prepare for big-box fires, long hose stretches and air-management challenges in massive commercial buildings.

Why it matters: - The training gives firefighters access to a 1.65 million-square-foot commercial building before it opens, a rare chance to study layout, access points and movement without active-facility constraints. - The program focuses on operational problems that can turn a commercial fire into a major incident, including long travel distances, extended hose stretches, large-diameter hose use, limited visibility, high fuel loads and strain on firefighter air supply. - Misfits Fire Training Foundation is limiting attendance to preserve hands-on participation, with only 12 seats remaining.

What happened: - Misfits Fire Training Foundation, in association with Firefighter Air and Brownsburg Fire Territory, announced Dominate the Commercial Fireground in Brownsburg, Indiana. - The event is scheduled for Sept. 8 or Sept. 9, 2026, with the same program delivered both days. - Registration closes at midnight on Sept. 6, 2026. - The fee is $100 per day. - Firefighters can register through the event registration link.

The details: - The day starts with three hours of classroom instruction at Brownsburg Fire Territory Training Facility, 470 E. Northfield Drive, Brownsburg, IN 46112. - Hands-on training then moves to the HarperCollins Brownsburg facility at 9145 Harper Collings Way, Brownsburg, IN. - The HarperCollins site is still under construction, and the training takes place in the last portion of the building before completion. - The facility is described as approximately 1.65 million square feet. - Training will be led by Capt. Clark Lamping, a 28-year veteran and 16-year captain with the Clark County Fire Department in Nevada. - The instructional team also includes Capt. Jimmy Davis of the Chicago Fire Department, Andy Plofkin of Elkhart Brass, BC Kyle Smith of Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services in Georgia, Adam Vanderfeyst of the Detroit Fire Department and Ed Collett. - Event organizers say the training connects pre-incident building knowledge with firefighter air management and interior attack planning.

Between the lines: - Large warehouse and distribution buildings are changing the demands placed on fire crews, and this event is built around those conditions rather than a traditional classroom-only approach. - The setting is meant to show firefighters how building size, travel distance and crew endurance interact during an incident, not as separate problems but as linked operational constraints. - Lamping cited data from John Norman’s Fire Officers Handbook of Tactics, 4th Edition, saying four firefighters die for every 100,000 residential fires compared with 16 firefighter deaths for every 100,000 commercial structure fires. - Jeff Kish, president of the Misfits Fire Training Foundation, said the best time to understand a building is before an emergency occurs. - Mike Gagliano, president of Firefighter Air, said crews should not have to meet a building for the first time when lives are already at risk.

What's next: - Departments that want to attend must register before midnight on Sept. 6 and choose either the Sept. 8 or Sept. 9 session. - Organizers say the remaining seats are expected to go quickly because of the limited class size. - Firefighter Air and Misfits Fire Training Foundation will continue promoting training focused on air management and operational readiness in large commercial structures.

The bottom line: - The Brownsburg event is a narrow-window opportunity for firefighters to train inside a massive commercial building before it opens, with the goal of improving decision-making on fires where distance, access and air supply can decide the outcome.