Daily Nonpareil wrote:The Iowa House has passed an infrastructure-spending bill that includes $900,000 for a new regional fire training building in the area.
"It is needed because we've only had mobile training units that are limited in size and scope and not available on a routine basis. There are waiting lists," he said. "This will be a solid infrastructure building to do more training; and the more training firefighters do, the better they become and the safer communities become."
OWH wrote:Bluffs Fire Chief Alan Byers said the city has been discussing the idea with state officials. The cost of a training center in the Bluffs, including classrooms and a training tower, could total around $2 million.
The city would partner with Iowa Western Community College on the center, and each would provide some money toward the facility's cost, Byers said.
The college offers a fire science technology course, which could be taught at the center.
Council Bluffs has budgeted almost $900,000 over two years in its future projects budget for its share of the new training facility.
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
It's like Christmas in October for the Council Bluffs Fire Department, as Fire Chief Alan Byers put it.
Not only has the department been awarded $500,000 from the state for a new regional training facility, but also $26,500 more from Washington for important training procedures.
And, there's the possibility of another $150,000 in state money that might come to build that facility.
The Council Bluffs Fire Department training tower, located at Station 5 off South 11th Street, will be torn down and rebuilt.
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
OWH wrote:. . .the council approved a construction contract for a new fire training tower. The tower will be built at the site of the fire station near Lake Manawa off of South 11th Street. The old tower was on that site.
The council unanimously chose Jahnke & Sons Construction of Overland Park, Kan., for the project. The firm will be paid $762,500 to build the four-story tower and equip it with features such as a gas-powered fire simulator.
The project also will have an area that simulates a hazardous materials spill from a tanker truck and a feature with pipes and tunnels to train for underground rescues.
Bluffs Fire Chief Alan Byers said the entire project will cost $1.7 million, including concrete work at the site. Most of the money is from the state, while about a third of the money will come from the city.
Byers said that the old tower was demolished earlier this year and that the new tower may be ready by spring, weather permitting. For months the department has been using vacant buildings for training.
"We're anxious to get the new tower open," he said.
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
