By Ben Strack

Plan for OFD training tower moves forward

Posted

Oceanside firefighters could be putting their life-saving skills to the test at a new facility by the end of this year, fire officials said, as a potential plan to install a training tower at Firemen Memorial Field is moving forward.

The Board of Fire Commissioners of the Oceanside Fire District adopted a resolution on April 11 to earmark $475,000 from its capital reserve fund for the project, according to Kevin Grasing, the fire district’s treasurer, though he said the project could cost less than the amount allocated. The balance of the reserve fund, as of that date, was nearly $1 million.

The training facility would be a “pre-fabricated” structure to be shipped and installed in the back portion of 88 Mott St., next to the fire district building. Grasing said. A “live-burn” facility previously on the property, which allowed the Oceanside Fire Department to light fires and train under real-world conditions, became structurally unsound about a decade ago, fire officials said, and was taken down shortly after.

Though the department still does training sessions at Firemen Memorial Field — including self-contained breathing apparatus training and car fire simulations — the only time the firefighters are fully immersed in structural fire training is four days each year at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy in Old Bethpage.

“Obviously four nights a year in a fire department with 150 firefighters is not sufficient,” Oceanside Fire Chief Kevin Klein said. “This [facility] will absolutely be a tremendous benefit to the department and will really change the level of training for years to come.”

Department representatives traveled to Missouri last November to meet with WHP, a company that constructs such training facilities for firefighters across the country. The company has models that double as homes and commercial buildings, Klein said, depending on which side firemen approach the structure.

One side may have a front door and windows like a house, he explained, while the other may look like a storefront, or a business with a garage door. “You could basically take a company down there on a Wednesday night and train on a house fire, and then go down the following Wednesday night and completely change the evolution and the training scenario,” Klein said.

The facility would allow the department to create a controlled environment where OFD officers and training instructors monitor the conditions, including the fire size and heat, preparing the firefighters — especially newer members — for dangerous situations they may encounter in the area. Former Fire Chief John Madden previously told the Herald that the department responds to roughly 1,800 calls per year, including about 10 large-scale structural fires on average.

Grasing said specific designs of the building have not been finalized, and the fire district is still in the process of selecting a company to work with. The allocation of funds does not take effect until 30 days from its adoption, as taxpayers have a chance to dispute the proposition during that time.

The ease and accessibility of being able to train the members in town, Klein emphasized, would be a huge step in improving the department.

“We want it to be able to better prepare our members for what we encounter in Oceanside primarily,” Klein said, “and that’s what we’re on track to do.”