The old domiciliary at VA Butler Healthcare is being demolished, as pictured here Thursday afternoon, March 28. Eddie Trizzino/Butler Eagle

BUTLER TWP — Just a few weeks after firefighters conducted a training in the three-story building, demolition of the former domiciliary at the VA Butler Healthcare is underway.

Prior to the firefighters’ training in early-March, the domiciliary had not been occupied for years, according to Paula McCarl, public affairs officer for the Butler VA.

David Guiste, chief of the VA Butler Fire and Emergency Services, said March 8 that the building was a great facility to have a training inside, because it was built for heavy occupancy.

Guiste also said during the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy that the domiciliary used to be a drug and alcohol treatment building where patients stayed while going through programs.

During the training, firefighters placed objectives in the building on all three floors, and lit pallets and hay on fire within to simulate a residential building fire scenario for practice.

According to Guiste, the age of the domiciliary building also helped simulate a real fire local emergency response departments might be called to, because its early-20th century architecture is common around Butler and the Butler County area.