Post by district5 on Apr 30, 2007 19:19:00 GMT -5
Last Updated: 5:53 pm | Monday, April 30, 2007
Firefighters to get new spot for live training
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JANE PRENDERGAST | JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM
After five years without a place to practice fighting actual fires, Cincinnati fire officials soon will start the process of building a new training facility.
The old "live fire" building in North Fairmount essentially was condemned five years ago, with the fire department told fires could no longer be set inside. It's still on the site, along Beekman Street, and will be saved for use in teaching how to navigate collapsing buildings, said District Chief Tom Lakamp, training supervisor.
But now that City Council has approved the last piece of about $1.4 million needed to pay for a new one, a request for proposals could go out in the next couple of weeks, he said. Still, it'll be another year before the replacement is finished and usable.
The three-story brick building will be designed so firefighters can simulate different types of buildings, such as using just the first floor as if it were a ranch house on fire, Lakamp said. Different kinds of stairways will be installed so firefighters can practice on the types they find in the field.
"The third floor is like a row house, which we have a lot of downtown," he said.
Rooms will be laid out with furniture - all of it non-combustible, per National Fire Protection Association rules - so trainees can get accustomed to crawling around obstacles. The previous building was all open inside; this one will be divided into rooms.
"We don't fight fire in big, open buildings," Lakamp said.
More training was among the recommendations in a report more than three years ago in the wake of the 2003 death of Oscar Armstrong, the first Cincinnati firefighter to die on duty in 22 years. But the recommendations came with a price tag of almost $7 million, so city officials said the reforms would take time.
Armstrong was killed when a Bond Hill kitchen fire got so hot it flashed over, engulfing everything in the room. Food left on the stove remains a common cause for Cincinnati fires.
Firefighters to get new spot for live training
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JANE PRENDERGAST | JPRENDERGAST@ENQUIRER.COM
After five years without a place to practice fighting actual fires, Cincinnati fire officials soon will start the process of building a new training facility.
The old "live fire" building in North Fairmount essentially was condemned five years ago, with the fire department told fires could no longer be set inside. It's still on the site, along Beekman Street, and will be saved for use in teaching how to navigate collapsing buildings, said District Chief Tom Lakamp, training supervisor.
But now that City Council has approved the last piece of about $1.4 million needed to pay for a new one, a request for proposals could go out in the next couple of weeks, he said. Still, it'll be another year before the replacement is finished and usable.
The three-story brick building will be designed so firefighters can simulate different types of buildings, such as using just the first floor as if it were a ranch house on fire, Lakamp said. Different kinds of stairways will be installed so firefighters can practice on the types they find in the field.
"The third floor is like a row house, which we have a lot of downtown," he said.
Rooms will be laid out with furniture - all of it non-combustible, per National Fire Protection Association rules - so trainees can get accustomed to crawling around obstacles. The previous building was all open inside; this one will be divided into rooms.
"We don't fight fire in big, open buildings," Lakamp said.
More training was among the recommendations in a report more than three years ago in the wake of the 2003 death of Oscar Armstrong, the first Cincinnati firefighter to die on duty in 22 years. But the recommendations came with a price tag of almost $7 million, so city officials said the reforms would take time.
Armstrong was killed when a Bond Hill kitchen fire got so hot it flashed over, engulfing everything in the room. Food left on the stove remains a common cause for Cincinnati fires.