SPRINGDALE -- Firefighters are on their way toward receiving a structure to help with advanced firefighting training.
The City Council Committee recommended Monday the council approve giving the Springdale Fire Department $500,000 to build a fire training facility.
The City Council Committee also recommended that a house at 1903 Powell St. be razed.
"It's been in the planning stages since our strategic plan back in 2014," Fire Chief Mike Irwin said. "We knew it would take a while. It was slated on the strategic plan to take three or four years to get it."
The wait to build one hinged on a search for a location and acquiring the money to purchase it, Irwin said.
The land Irwin has his sights on is five acres on Walter Turnbow Drive in the Public Facilities Industrial Complex.
"We're still in negotiations on it," Irwin said.
The land previously was donated to the Public Facilities Board by the city, Mayor Doug Sprouse said.
Public Facilities could donate the land back to the city, said Mike Overton, committee chairman.
The fire training facility will be about three stories tall and made up of stout metal shipping containers that all together will be about 3,250 square feet, Irwin said.
"This will allow us to do live fire training anytime we want to," Irwin said.
The structure will allow for several forms of specialized training, including how to fight fires in confined spaces, high angle rescue, roof ventilation, attacking fires in a basement, ladder work, hose drills and various rescue drills, Irwin said.
"It's pretty endless what you can do," Irwin said.
Without a fire training facility, the department can only practice on donated structures.
"We can only burn in facilities that are called acquired structures, (which are) homes or buildings people are wanting to get burned down and they donate them to us," Irwin said. "Right now we can only do live fire training in those donated structures that meet the (National Fire Protection Association) standards to burn."
Irwin estimates it will cost $500,000 to build the facility. The cost of the land isn't part of that $500,000, Irwin said.
American Fire Training Systems of Lemont, Ill., sells the huge shipping containers converted into training structure sections, according to National Fire Protection Association standards and installs them at the designated location, Irwin said.
"The company installs it with cranes," Irwin said. "We're looking at sometime in April before it's installed."
NW News on 12/06/2016