City officials and members of the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors celebrated the completion of the live Fire Training Center today at a ribbon cutting event that included live demonstrations of the capabilities that the facility provides, allowing firefighters to train more effectively under conditions much like they experience in live fire events. Demonstrations included a rappelling, window rescue, and a fire attack in one of the "burn" rooms.
The live Fire Training Center is four stories in height and 4,500 sq. ft. It includes features such as three exterior working decks that simulate a flat roof, and three balconies to simulate motels and apartment buildings. The approximate cost of the building was $800,000. Engineer, Architects, P.C. (EAPC) provided the architectural and engineering services for the training center. Construction was provided by Reed Constructors, Capital City Construction, Inc. and Weisz and Sons.
Three burn rooms, one on the first floor and two on the second floor, will protect the building up to 1,800 degrees. Firefighters generally train at 900 degrees with a maximum of 1,200 degrees. The multiple burn rooms allow training scenarios where the fire can exist above and below, and spread to different rooms or floors, or can be hidden to better simulate real life fires. Training can be simulated for different types of occupancies such as single-family residences, apartments, high-rise buildings, commercial buildings and hotels. The burn rooms are equipped with an alarm system that will warn the instructors when the fire is getting too hot for the safety of the crews.
The building is also equipped with a smoke distribution system. This system can generate artificial smoke so training can be done without live fires. The system pushes smoke to some or all of the rooms in the building to simulate rescue situations in a fire without actual fires. Some rooms have movable walls to challenge a firefighter with different configurations.
In addition, the building can be used to train for rope rescue, where the crews will rappel off different levels with different rescue situations. There are confined space hatches for crews to practice rescuing people in tight quarters or in awkward places. Eventually, props can be built to practice building collapse rescue.
The Bismarck Police Department will also be able to utilize the facility for training in Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) operations.