Work Begins on Fire Tower
Iowa Central Community College and the Homeland Security Training Center broke ground Aug. 18 on a new fire tower training site.
The Regional Emergency Response Training Center (RERTC), which is located west of the old IBP plant on Ave. O, will serve as a training location for fire departments and first responders in the Iowa Central region and beyond.
Footings for the four-story fire tower were laid on Aug. 19. Construction on the tower will begin the first part of October.
“It is exciting to watch the construction process begin on this project,” said Mike Burke, Director of the Homeland Security Training Center on the Iowa Central Community College campus. “There is no substitute for live fire training when it comes to preparing fire departments and first responders in possible scenarios. This training will be advantageous to all participants.”
The fire tower will consist of a two-story residential unit and a one-story annex. Features of the tower also include 14 single windows, one double window, five single doors, one double door and a temperature monitoring system. The tower has an interior four-story stair, a ladder from the top floor to a roof hatch, a parapet roof system and four rappelling anchors. The industrial section includes a four-foot attic space, a gabled roof structure with perimeter guardrails and two chop-outs and a second floor live fire burn room. The annex houses a second live fire burn room.
The training site received appropriations from the state of Iowa with $400,000 in funding being designated in 2006 and $111,000 in 2007.
The training site is currently in phase one of a five year plan.
