Illinois Family Donates Generational Farmhouse for Live-Fire Training Before It Burns

The Kestel family gave their four-generation New Lenox farmhouse to the fire district, which used it for a three-day live-fire drill before setting it ablaze.

After remaining in the Kestel family for four generations, a farmhouse on Cedar Road in New Lenox was handed over to the New Lenox Fire Protection District for use as a live-fire training site. Preparations began in March, and from Wednesday to Friday roughly 100 firefighters from New Lenox, Manhattan and Frankfort participated in realistic drills that included dispatch, interior fire attack, search and rescue, and ladder work, using burn barrels and hay bales to start flames.

The Illinois Fire Service Institute designed the scenarios and observed the crews, providing feedback. Deputy Chief Brian Applegate highlighted the value of training inside an actual house versus metal structures, and Chief Adam Riegel noted the rarity of such donated buildings. After the final session, the house was set alight and burned to the ground, while Karen Kestel and daughter Meghan Keating watched, reflecting on family memories and feeling the donation honored their late mother’s community spirit. The property has since been sold to developers.