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New fire training facility to be constructed on Belcher
By LESTER R. DAILEY
| Article published on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007 |
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CLEARWATER – The fire training “burn tower” on Belcher Road has been a landmark for three decades. But the masonry structure has a date with the wrecking ball.
“There will be a state-of-the-art training tower and burn structure,” fire Deputy Chief Robert Dube told the City Council at its meeting on July 30. “The burn building we have now is 30 years old and has outlived its useful life.”
It’s part of a $4.45 million makeover of the aging training facility.
“The current Clearwater Fire & Rescue training facility was constructed in 1976 and no longer meets the growing training requirements of the department,” a staff memo to the council explained. “The single classroom limits the number of classes taught and the number of students. The proposed project provides for the construction of a 9,000-square-foot training building which will have three classrooms, an exercise workout room, both male and female bathrooms and locker facilities and a protective clothing storage, cleaning and drying area with additional support space.”
A 4,400-square-foot pre-engineered metal storage and supply building, with an area for the repair of self-contained breathing apparatus, will be constructed on the site. The current storage facility, which shares the property at 2150 Range Road with the city’s firetruck repair garage, will be lost when the city’s Fleet Maintenance Department takes over the maintenance of firetrucks and the Range Road site is sold.
A prefabricated burn tower will be erected, and approximately 8,000 square yards of asphalt paving will be added. The city hopes that using local contractors would hold down the costs and selected Dunedin-based Bandes Construction as the prime contractor, and Clearwater-based Cumber & Fair Inc. for the construction engineering and inspection. Bandes will be paid more than $4.4 million and Cumber will get close to $30,000. To offset part of the cost, roughly $1.3 million of Penny for Pinellas sales tax funds will be diverted from the Station 48 renovation fund and later be reimbursed by the county.
Operating the new facility is expected to cost $26,000 a year more than operating the current facility. But it also will be used by North Pinellas fire departments, whose user fees will help defray the expenses.
“It’s a good example of us cooperating with the county and other municipalities so we can spread our costs,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said.
The interior of the burn tower can be reconfigured into a variety of mazes where firefighters will be taught how to find their way through a smoke-filled high-rise building using real smoke.
“I can’t imagine a fire department without this capability,” said Councilwoman Carlen Petersen, who once witnessed a similar exercise using theatrical smoke. “It’s unbelievable how disoriented you can get.”
“I think it is important to point out that this (new training) building can withstand a Category 5 storm,” said Hibbard. “So it can be used as a back-up EOC (Emergency Operations Center), which we badly need.”
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Article published on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007
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