New ribbon cutting, open house set for Fire Training Grounds
The Hot Springs Fire Department has rescheduled the ribbon cutting and open house for its new Fire Training Grounds for Sunday from 1-3 p.m. at 517 Vernel St., located off Spring Street.
The public is welcome to attend the family friendly event, which was rescheduled from its original date due to inclement weather, the city said in a news release.
Firefighters will provide tours of the new $500,000 Kirila Fire Training Simulator beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday. In addition to the simulator, tours of the nearby smoke house and training facility will also be offered.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held with local dignitaries at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Following the ceremony, the first live burn in the facility will be conducted and extinguished by members of the Hot Springs Fire Department. Fire apparatus and equipment will also be on display for the public to view, the release said.
Call 321-6971 for more information. The simulator’s two burn rooms, one gas controlled and the other designed for igniting combustibles, have yet to be used. The inaugural burns were originally scheduled for a March 4 ribbon cutting.
The Conex Shipping Containers that make up the two-story training facility haven’t sat idle, however. The simulator’s confined space search-andrescue maze has prepared new hires for scenarios they’ll face at the state fire academy.
The more than $450,000 simulator also features a standpipe, rappelling tower and wall breach simulator. A $409,091 Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters grant defrayed most of the cost, with the balance provided by money the department receives from the state through taxes collected on home insurance premiums.
Fire Chief Ed Davis recently said the simulator can have a 10- to 15-year life span if properly maintained. It’s the centerpiece of the training grounds the department took over in the 1990s. A water tank from when the site was used for water treatment has been converted into the smoke house.