SAINT JOHN — The Saint John Fire Department is getting a much needed upgrade to their training equipment.
About four years ago the department lost its training tower after it was deemed unsafe to use.
Council recently approved the purchase of a new facility after mulling on it for over two years.
The new training tower will cost just under $800,000 and include components for marine, industrial, and house fire scenarios.
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“It’s very adaptable for all the emergencies that we respond to, I mean confined space, mazes and everything within it, it allows us to train better for high angle rescues and that kind of stuff,” says Deputy Fire Chief Joe Armstrong.
The industrial training component of the tower would also help prepare firefighters for emergencies at places like the Irving refinery and LNG terminal as well as a number of other proposed facilities like Atlantic Potash Corporation’s fertilizer facility.
“There’s all kinds of other possibilities coming here, especially if we have the West-East pipeline developed and you know we need a good fire department and we need a fire department that has the manpower and is well trained.” explains Councillor at Large Shirley McAlary.
The SJFD hopes to have this training tower in place by late October.
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