James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
(TNS)

Feb. 25—City officials have selected a contractor to build a new fire training center for the Owensboro Fire Department, with the goal of having the facility complete by March of next year.

Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock said officials awarded the contract to Danco Construction Inc., which submitted a $5.525 million bid.

The bid was $500,000 over the city’s projected budget. The bond ordinance commissioners passed in January was for several projects, including the fire training center, and included additional funds for cost overruns.

“We’ve had a great experience with Danco,” Hancock said, and that the firm has worked on projects such as the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Hancock said the cost was driven by factors such as inflation and a “backlog on demand” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hancock said he expects construction prices will eventually decline.

“I don’t see how they can stay (elevated) forever,” he said.

The design includes a 9,000 square-foot classroom facility, with training bays, a kitchen and meeting rooms. The modular fire tower will be built off-site and shipped to Owensboro, officials said previously.

“I know the fire department is thrilled with this,” Hancock said. “It’s something the commission had as a priority as well.”

The current classroom, fire tower and burn room will all be demolished. The new fire tower will function as a burn room.

The former ABC Rentals building on the site will be used as a classroom during construction, and could be retained for use when the new classroom is complete, Hancock said.

“At this point, it’s still up in the air,” Hancock said. “But we will utilize it for the next year’s traditional training during construction.”

Battalion Chief Colter Tate of OFD said the department would be able to keep current with training during construction of the new facility.

In addition to the ABC building, “We have some mobile props we can move around to other stations, to train firefighters on roof ventilation and opening doors, Tate said. The department will also look for vacant buildings scheduled to be demolished that can be used for training, as the department has done in the past. We will be able to keep up our skills during the construction process.”

The training center is important to keep up with the fire department’s training requirements, and to help the department attract and retain firefighters, Hancock said.

The site “will be rebuilt from the ground up,” Hancock said. “It will be a noticeable upgrade in size and ability.”

Tate said the new training center, “is going to allow us to really step up our game” in training, “and hone the skills of our personnel.”

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Excited to "turn some dirt" this a.m. on @austintexasgov 4th of 5 new Fire/@ATCEMS stations in 6 years! Thx to COA Public Works, @PGALdesign, @JEDunn, Interim CM Jesus Garza, @VanessaForATX, and @MK6ATX for joining us. See you in 2024 when we open Fire 53/EMS 42!

📷 © AFD/PGAL pic.twitter.com/BgTcXDFA9g

— Austin Fire Dept (@austinfiredept) February 22, 2023

Austin broke ground Wednesday on the newest joint fire-EMS station as part of a bigger project to increase the emergency response times in areas around the city that have expanded in recent years, kxan.com reported.

The new station, located at 9400 Capitol View Drive, near the Midnight Ranch neighborhood in southeast Austin, will be the fourth joint station built by the city in the past five years, the report said.

The goal is to reduce response times in emergencies after it was discovered Austin did not have enough fire stations to accommodate the expanding areas of the city, according to the report.

Wilson’s Mills broke ground Tuesday on its newest fire station at 2024 Gordon Road in Clayton (NC), wral.com reported. Even though the fire station will be in Clayton, it will be the third to serve Wilson’s Mills.

Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony celebrated the start of construction of a temporary fire station, which is set to open by July. The permanent fire station is set to open in 2024, the report said.

After the permanent station is built, crews will turn the temporary facility into a training facility, according to the report.

White Oak Fire Department celebrated receiving its new Pierce fire engine Tuesday, kltv.com reported. The new engine took about a year and a half to be delivered since it was custom built.

A fire official said their previous main engine was aging out and parts were getting hard to find, the report said.

The fire official said the department will train on the truck before it’s put into service in the next few weeks.