Bird Key Yacht Club's 65-year-old clubhouse is now sitting empty, but it is far from inactive. In fact, the soon-to-be-demolished facility provided a valuable training venue for first responders last week, who took the opportunity to turn the vacated building into the center of explosive training.
The club invited Sarasota Police Department demolition experts to use the space for explosive entry training on Sept. 5.
When a large-scale emergency happens, first responders may need to get officers inside a building when time is of the essence. In those instances, they may turn to explosives to get through the main doors.
Sgts. Dustin Luciano, team leader, and Aaron Stoll, lead breacher, led the demolition team that morning in conducting a series of controlled explosions, each larger than the last.
Stoll explained officers will typically default to mechanical means of entry, physically breaking through doors. However, they will tactically use explosives when they quickly need to get officers onto the scene.
Those measures can sound drastic, but after the team detonated the first charge attached to a set of glass French doors, Stoll showed the meticulously calibrated explosion opened the lock without even breaking the glass.
Luciano said it was valuable to test out their techniques in a unique environment with an atypical set of doors.
"On an in-swing door, we have different sizes of charges we may use," he said. "What's important to us is to be exposed to multiple entry points and types of doors so we have the statistics guiding us and we can successfully get in the doors during an operation."
Experts need to strike a balance between using the least amount of explosive power possible in the interest of safety, while also having enough power to gain access in an emergency.
Luciano shared his appreciation for the Sarasota venues that have lent their space for such trainings, especially when it provides an opportunity to collaborate with fellow forces like the local fire departments.
The training even extended to the SPD K-9 unit, with Officer Adam Bearden taking the chance to get K-9 Officer Butch familiar with a detonation scene. His robust barks could be heard throughout the empty halls with the final countdown.
Bird Key Yacht Club General Manager Tammy Hackney said she was glad to offer the space for training ahead of the demolition slated for the end of September.
Hackney said she initially spoke with SPD officer Helios Blanco, who suggested the collaboration.
"Pretty soon after, I got a call from Sgt. Luciano, and we set everything up," she said. "We were delighted to do so, because there is no better way to give this building back to the community."
Sarasota Police Department Officer Kyle Carter makes preparations for an explosives training hosted by Bird Key Yacht Club at its soon-to-be-demolished clubhouse on Sept. 5.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Aaron Stoll gives a post-detonation rundown of how first responders train for explosive entries. Bird Key Yacht Club invited officers to use its outgoing clubhouse to hone their techniques.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Aaron Stoll gives a safety briefing to viewers before officers detonate a charge at Bird Key Yacht Club for a training session.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Captain Demetri Konstantopoulos surveys the scene a final time before the demolitions team sets off a controlled explosion as part of their entry training.
Photo by Dana Kampa
After the Sarasota Police Department demolition team set off the first charge attached to a set of glass French doors, the meticulously calibrated explosion opened the lock without even breaking the glass.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Bird Key Yacht Club General Manager Tammy Hackney checks out the aftermath of an explosive entry training at the old clubhouse with Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Aaron Stoll.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sgts. Dustin Luciano and Aaron Stoll explain the purpose of a Sarasota Police Department explosive entry training at Bird Key Yacht Club on Sept. 5.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Dustin Luciano, left, and officer Adam Bearden, K-9 specialist, greet Capt. Demetri Konstantopoulos at an explosive entry training on Sept. 5 at Bird Key Yacht Club.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Little remains at the 65-year-old Bird Key Yacht Club clubhouse beyond the walls, the bar and a few chandeliers.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Officers took care in marking off the boundary around Bird Key Yacht Club's clubhouse for a detonation team training on Sept. 5. The building is slated for demolition this fall to make way for a new facility.
Photo by Dana Kampa
The demolition team at the Sarasota Police Department, including Sgt. Aaron Stoll, make final preparations for the explosion training at Bird Key Yacht Club on Sept. 5.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Demolition experts set off a series of progressively stronger charges at a training hosted by the Bird Key Yacht Club on Sept. 5.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Sgt. Dustin Luciano, the team leader at a Sept. 5 explosives exercise at Bird Key Yacht Club, listens in ahead of the final countdown.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Sarasota Police Department Captain Demetri Konstantopoulos dons ear protection for the final countdown at an explosives training session.
Photo by Dana Kampa
Bird Key Yacht Club Commodore Tony Britt and General Manager Tammy Hackney share a smile after the first explosive successfully detonates at a Sept. 5 explosives training with the Sarasota Police Department.
Photo by Dana Kampa
The charge didn't break the glass of a set of French doors the Sarasota Police Department practiced opening with explosives, but the energy did transfer to the ceiling, as Sgt. Aaron Stoll shows.
Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.
