By Brian Johnson
Finance & Commerce
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. — Maplewood officials want to spend millions of dollars to build a seven-story tower next to a two-story house.
And then they want to set fire to the structures.
It makes a lot more sense than it sounds, because the faux house and tower would be part of a modern $6 million fire training facility that would serve more than 1,400 firefighters from 24 departments, as well as other public safety personnel in Ramsey and Washington counties.
At the new facility, which could be under construction as soon as next year in anticipation of a 2011 opening, firefighters could hone their skills in putting out blazes and rescuing people from burning buildings.
The city of Maplewood, which is leading the charge on the project, hopes to secure $3 million for the effort from the 2010 state bonding bill. Local funding sources would cover the balance of the project cost, Maplewood fire chief Steve Lukin said.
“This will be multi-jurisdictional,” Lukin said. “Fire, police and emergency medical will be able to use portions for training. It’s also regional. “
The project would use about five acres of a proposed 10-acre site near Highway 5 and Highway 120 in Maplewood, according to Lukin. Maplewood is in the process of acquiring the land from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Ideal location
Lukin said the proposed location is ideal because it’s on the border of Ramsey and Washington Counties and is easily accessible. Roughly a dozen fire departments are located within an eight-mile radius of the spot, he noted.
The project is important because it would allow area firefighters to take their required training closer to home, Lukin said. At present, those east metro firefighters have to travel to St. Paul or Minneapolis for training.
Having training facilities nearby will reduce travel costs and make it possible for departments to train as a team, instead of having to leave a contingent of firefighters behind to handle emergencies.
There’s a lot of demand for training time in existing facilities, Lukin added. To make matters more challenging, many suburban fire departments employ part-time “paid if called” firefighters who have a limited window of evening hours available for training.
Nyle Zikmund, fire chief of the Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View Fire Department, said training facilities have been a public safety issue for years.
“The props you need and facilities you need are pretty expensive,” Zikmund said. “Other than the Minneapolises and St. Pauls of the world ... most people don’t have the resources to construct these facilities. "
The Maplewood project would include a main building with a training room, flexible learning spaces that break down to smaller classrooms, and state-of the-art training technology, as well a seven-story “burn tower” and a two-story “burn house” with an attached garage.
Lukin said there’s currently nothing like it on the east side of the metro.
One thing they don’t hope to burn in the new facility is lots of fuel. Current plans call for geothermal heating and cooling and perhaps solar panels to provide green energy for the project. There’s even talk of collaborating with nearby Hill-Murray high school to put a wind turbine on the site.
“We are trying to make this as green as we can,” Lukin said.
Lukin hopes to bring a design team on board soon.
Two east metro lawmakers — State Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, and Rep. Leon Lillie, DFL-North St. Paul — plan to pursue money for the project in the upcoming session.
A joint powers arrangement between participating fire departments will own and operate the facility, and the city of Maplewood is taking the lead in pursuing state funding for the project, according to a press release from Wiger’s office.
“Fighting fires requires bravery and technical skills and training,” Wiger noted in the release. “Keeping us protected takes a considerable amount of training and we need to supply them with adequate space to do so. "
Copyright 2009 Dolan Media Newswires