Oshawa unveiled its new $1.5 million fire training facility Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a live fire training exercise.
The multi-storey facility, located temporarily at the Oshawa Executive Airport’s South Field, consists of nine modified shipping containers configured to form a simulated four-storey building. The facility burns Class “A” materials, with two of the shipping containers containing burn chambers. It features a stair tower to an upper roof platform, moveable walls, bailout windows, repelling beams and multiple hose access points to help facilitate numerous training scenarios.
Oshawa Council approved the investment in 2021, with the fire training facility/tower to be located temporarily at the airport’s South Field. There is no word on where the facility will find its permanent home. The training centre was funded with $1.125 million from the Fire Protection Development Charge Reserve and $375,000 from the Civic Property Development Reserve.
“Council’s $1.5 million investment in a new state-of-the-art fire training facility for Oshawa Fire Services demonstrates our commitment to the safety of our fire crews and to saving lives and property in our great city,” said Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter. “This new fire training tower provides opportunities to train our firefighters on an entirely new level with controlled simulations complemented by world-class instructional programs.”
The new fire training facility allows Oshawa fire fighters to perform vital health and safety training in live fire training exercises, search & rescue, high-rise firefighting and various other firefighting disciplines. The fire training facility also provides partnership opportunities for other fire services and fire education post-secondary programs.
“The key to saving lives and exceptional firefighting is elite training. This is why it is so important to have a training facility that allows our firefighters to perform their jobs to the highest standards,” said Councillor Brian Nicholson, Chair of the Safety and Facilities Services Committee. “I am proud to see this facility open and providing real-world fire scenario training to our firefighters.”
