Saturday night a section of Edgewood Drive beside Wal-Mart will be closed for most of the night as firefighters conduct a controlled burn at a house on 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.

Three houses were purchased by Surry Telephone Membership Corp. and were donated to city and county fire departments for training purposes. Southern said the house is the second 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 also will be training at that location on Friday night, but the road will not be shut down.

Firefighters and police will shut down the road at 5 p.m. Saturday. Southern said he expects the road will be closed until at least midnight. 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, Pine Ridge and Pilot Knob.

Southern said Surry Telephone plans to start building a new retail store in that location in April. The last of the three houses will be burned down on March 26.

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