FROM THE NEWSROOM: Two planned firefighter training facilities in Northeastern Connecticut – one in Rogers near the Goodyear Early Childhood Center, and the other in Plainfield on Norwich Road – continue moving forward, independent of one another. Local officials from both towns say they dont yet know how similar the facilities will be, or whether theyll each provide different training opportunities for volunteer firefighters. One of the primary reasons the Dayville Fire District embarked on its project was because there were no other similar training facilities locally. Now that plans for a Plainfield training facility have been confirmed, the question has become whether those needs will now be met by two facilities – and to what extent two different facilities are necessary. A big part of that question will be answered by whether or not the Plainfield facility will aim for regional use like Killinglys; however, right now Plainfield Fire Chief Ralph Wells says that Plainfield fire departments will share use of the Norwich Road facility. The extent that departments outside the town will be permitted to use it remains unclear, but he views it as a possibility. Wells also detailed some of the specs of the project; he said it will be constructed out of metal storage containers with doorways cut between them, and set up for search and rescue training, ladder training, chimney operations and emergency medical scenarios – the interior will be flexible, so the facility can take on different designs for appropriate scenarios. Killingly Town Councilor Tammy Wakefield said she is still uncertain whether the Plainfield facility will be able to offer everything the Rogers facility will; she noted that roof entries, car fires, multi-story rescues, repelling and more will be offered in Killingly. Moving forward, Wakefield said the Killingly Town Council is scheduled to vote on entering a lease agreement with the Dayville Fire District during the June Town Council meeting; Chief Wells said he hopes construction of the Plainfield facility can begin within the next couple months, although right now it is still waiting some further approvals – once construction begins, the project should take a few months to complete. Tune in for the full report.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 12:29:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015