Tonight a section of Edgewood Drive behind Wal-Mart will be closed for most of the night as firefighters conduct a controlled burn at a house at 1415 Edgewood Drive.

Fire/rescue instructor Eric Southern, with Surry Community College, is in charge of the burn that will help train firefighters from six county and city departments.

The house was purchased by Surry Telephone Membership Corp. and was donated to city and county fire departments for training purposes. Southern said the house is the third on the left coming from U.S. 601. The entrance to Wal-Mart will still be accessible directly from U.S. 601 and from the Park Drive side of Edgewood.

Firefighters and police will shut down the road at 5 p.m. Southern said he expects the road will be closed until early Saturday morning. Since the burn is controlled by the fire departments, he wants to get the word out so that the 911 communications center doesn’t get flooded with calls.

Southern also warned against those who might be tempted to come out and watch.

Participating fire departments include Franklin, Mount Airy, White Plains, Four Way, Bannertown and Pilot Knob.

Surry Telephone owns two other houses on Edgewood Drive. Southern said the company plans to start a building a new retail store in that location in April. The other two houses will be burned down on March 20 and 26. The road will also be shut down starting at 5 p.m. on both dates.

Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.