State of the art
County awards nearly $600K bid for new fire training tower
Local firefighters will have a state-ofthe-art training facility to look forward to in 2021 after Catoosa County officials awarded a nearly $600,000 bid for the project just before Christmas.
During the Dec. 15 Board of Commissioner’s meeting, officials signed off on the deal, which will bring a multi-purpose training tower near Fire Station 6 on Three Notch Road.
Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Walston presented the recommendation to the board and broke down everything from the bidding process to what the county can expect to get out of the new facility.
“It’s a Class-a training facility,” Walston said. “It’s 5,440 square feet, which is four stories with a repel roof on the fifth story. So it’s actually four enclosed stories that we can use to simulate just about anything that we need to train with — anything from a residential structure fire to a commercial-type building.”
Walston says that with the growth in the county, the new tower will provide the opportunity to create simulation scenarios for all types of buildings.
“We’ve got a lot of hotels and stuff like that going in that are multi-floors, and this would give us the ability to go in and train for those type of buildings on searches, fire suppression, and everything of that nature — anything and everything that we would encounter in a day-to-day situation we would have those training props at this facility,” Walston said. “It’s a state-of-the-art facility.”
As far as the bidding process goes, Walton explained that the department went out to bid earlier in the year, but that only one bid came in, which prompted them to advertise for bids a second time.
“The reason we didn’t go with the first bid is because we only received one bid,” Walston said. “We threw that bid out because we wanted to go to bid a second time and try to get more people to
come in and bid to offer more options for our training facility that met more of our needs.”
The second time around, Walston says four companies submitted bids on the project, and that a committee evaluated those bids closely.
“For the lowest and the next-to-lowest bids, we actually put a committee together and they travelled to Warner Robbins, Ga., to see a facility that was similar in nature to what we’re wanting,” Walston said. “We actually took a tour of that, and then the company who came in with the lowest bid — Buildline General Contractors of Alpharetta, Ga. — our same committee went up to Ohio and toured their built facility, as well as two of the fire departments in Ohio just to see what went into that building they presented.”
After being satisfied with the products they saw from Buildline, Walston says he and staff became convinced that their bid and quality of work was the best partner for the project.
“The bid is $596,320, and we would like for that to come out of some of our remaining 2014 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax),” Walston said. “We currently have approximately $929,000 left in those funds. Of that, if we use that, we would still have $332,680 remaining after the purchase of the training tower.”
Walston added that the bid price is just for the training tower building, and that
it does not include the concrete padding that needs to be put down for building.
Before a vote was taken, Commissioner Jeff Long asked about a timetable for the project, at which time Walston stated the project could be completed within six months.
“If approved, we would communicate with them and start the development process, which once they have the development, we would approved all the plans and they’re talking about 119 days approximately for the build time,” Walston said. “The build itself will happen first at their facility in Ohio. They’ll actually build the whole training tower at their assembly plant, and then they’ll take it down and deliver it at our facility and then rebuild it.”
Walston said the facility could be erected in Catoosa County by mid-may, and that training could begin in early June after the building is finalized and inspections passed.
The building is slated to be built behind Fire Station 6 on Three Notch Road.
Walston added that the agency’s current training tower is at Fire Station 1 behind the Ringgold Depot, and that it’s outdated and in less-than-stellar shape.
“Everybody that’s familiar with our existing tower right here at Station 1 behind the Depot, it was build with that station in 1986,” Walston said. “It’s not in real good shape. We’ve tried to baby
to supplement and strengthen the current election security proposals that I will introduce this session,” Mullis said.
The elections reform com
mittee consists of two people from each county, plus Mullis, who will serve as a co-chairman.
“This effort,” Mullis said, “is designed to build upon the current recommendations of the Senate Republican Caucus and my own proposed legislation.”
An email inbox has been set up for input from District
53 citizens, he said. “This will streamline the contact process, ensuring that your ideas are heard and will directly influence policy proposals,” Mullis said.
“As we review your suggestions and I hear the recommendations of the committee, I will release the highlights of
the final draft piece of legislation once the upcoming session convenes in Atlanta,” he said. “I have promised from day one that I will fight for you, the security of our elections, and ensure that your voices are heard. This is one of many actions I intend to undertake in order to uphold that promise.”