On Thursday, August 29th, Goochland County Department of Fire-Rescue and Emergency Services cut the ribbon on their new 1.2-million-dollar live burn structure.
The Department’s previous structure, constructed in 1981, was deemed unsafe for live fire training back in 2012. Since then, live fire training required the department to travel with equipment to other jurisdictions or bring a small, mobile burn trailer operated by the state to a site in Goochland. Neither option worked well as it relied on outside resources to support the burn training.
To help solve this problem, Fire-Rescue staff applied for a grant from the Virginia Fire Services Board for a container style burn structure in 2022. This innovative design optimizes available space at the Henley Fire-Rescue Training Center while supporting realistic training to better prepare the crews to work together on the fireground.
The completed structure utilizes gas to simulate a fire, the training crews are met with real flame, heat and restricted visibility just like they would in a real-life event. The new facility includes re-configurable wall panels to allow for the creation of multiple different scenarios.
“We are super excited to once again be able to conduct interior live fire training at the Henley Fire-Rescue Training Center, a capability we lost over 10 years ago due to aging and deteriorating conditions from extensive use in our legacy Class A burn building.”, said Goochland County Fire-Rescue Chief Eddie Ferguson, “Considering all the growth and development in Goochland County, it is important for a variety of reasons we be able to conduct live fire training for all our career and volunteer members locally. We are indebted to all who supported our project making this a reality. Thank you.”
Now that the facility is ready for use, the Department plans to use it for not only local training, but for regional trainings as well.
