The red trailer has soot-stained entrances, and when in use, it belches smoke and gushes water from the roof.

It's easy to spot driving down Seventh Street, where it's parked in the Bismarck Civic Center exhibitor parking lot with hoses snaked around from the fire hydrant on the corner of Seventh Street and Bowen Avenue.

Inside, firefighters across the state, and some from Canada, are practicing putting out a structure fire. On Sunday, it was putting out a basement fire as the smoke billows up the stairwell. The interior has simulations for some of the most common structure fires, in a kitchen and bedroom.

"It's a realistic simulation," said Capt. Stan Burling, of the Hazen Fire Department.

He has been with the volunteer fire department since 1989. He has worked on about 20 structure fires during that time. The Hazen department receives about two to three structure fire calls a year, he said.

It gives the people in the Hazen department an alternative to watching training videos and working with the fire hoses behind the department, he said.

Before Grand Forks had the fire trailer, they would spend part of their summer converting an old mobile home. Other departments would practice in old buildings, the latter of which caused environmental concerns.

In the trailer, they can control what burns. For the smoke and flames, they burn propane. It is easier on the environment, Grand Forks Fire Department Capt. Chad Cutshaw said. Friday the trailer burned 185 gallons of propane, and was working on another 185 gallons over the weekend.

Grand Forks Fire Department owns the trailer, which it uses for training at its facility for free training for its departments and any departments that want to come and train. It also takes the trailer across the state for regional training and to the state fire school. This is the third year the trailer has come to Bismarck.

In groups of 30, the firefighters work on the simulations. It helps them keep up on needed skills when it's not something they don't get called to do as often as in the past.

"We don't see structure fires like we did 30 years ago," Cutshaw said.

Back then, there could be a structure fire call about once a day. Fire prevention education has changed that, he said. The number of calls for service the Grand Forks Fire Department receives has increased from 400 per year in 1972 to more than 3,000 per year, according to Grand Forks city council minutes from Oct. 11, 2006.

Nationally, the number of structure fires is decreasing. 578,500 in 1996 and 511,000 in 2005, according to ND Fire Administration. In N.D., fire departments responded to 1,038 fires in 2006, according to National Fire Incident Reporting System statistics. The National Fire Incident Reporting System is a national reporting system for departments to report incidences on-line.

In Grand Forks, the fire department and police department want to combine for a $6 million public safety training facility. They are waiting for action by the city council, Cutshaw said. It would provide a place for training and education. The fire department would station a truck and crew there, which would help decrease its response times, according to Grand Forks city council minutes.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)