With donations of old farmhouses for firefighting training becoming more scarce, local crews are looking to develop their burn containers.

Morden Fire & Rescue recently received a $20,000 boost for their training site from the Morden Community Thrift Store.

Fire Chief Andy Thiessen explains they'll be further developing burn containers, adding stairways, doorways and burn cells to practice high-temperature training exercises.

He says the exercises are invaluable, "if you go into calls with more knowledge, you can keep yourself safer and protect the area better."

"It gives you confidence when going into a fire," Thiessen adds. "It's a pretty scary situation at times, but it's an educated confidence."

The burn containers are also receiving more temperature controls, "you still want to feel the heat but we don't need to roast ourselves... that system is going to help us out a lot too."

Currently, Morden Fire & Rescue has 33 members with a range of experience from 30 years to three. However, Thiessen says they have room for a few new recruits and hope to add members this spring.

He notes their last recruiting drive was three years ago.

Fire Chief Andy Thiessen