New fire tower moves training opportunity to North Port

NORTH PORT – North Port Fire Rescue showed off a new, six-story, $2 million tower and burn building Friday. The structure will allow the city's 123 firefighters to hone their skills in a variety of scenarios – including tactical rescue and live fire response – that simulate virtually every structure in the city.

About $1.3 million of the money for the tower was paid out of revenue from the optional local sales tax levied in Sarasota County, while the remainder came from city fire district funds.

The 58-foot-tall building is 20 feet-by-48 feet and made out of 30 shipping containers of various sizes, while the interiors are reinforced to withstand repeated training.

"They're put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle to form all of the interior rooms," said North Port Fire Training Battalion Chief Ray Coyle.

The containers simulate one- and two-story homes and the walls inside are removable "so we can reorganize it so there's a different floor plan every time somebody goes in to do a training scenario," Coyle said.

"The building is designed to be as versatile as we can be to mimic just about any type of structure we have here in the city," he added.

The third floor mimics apartment buildings, with facing units separated by a breezeway.

The structure includes props to allow firefighters to train on how to breach a window.

The structure has layers of insulation, with the interior designed to withstand repeated simulated fires and the water used to extinguish them.

Rooms have steel furniture – tables, chairs, cabinets and beds – that will withstand the burning and contribute to the realism of the training scenarios.

The tower, at 6664 W. Price Blvd., has 9,630 square feet of training space.

North Port Fire Chief Scott Titus said in a prepared statement the project has been 25 years in the making and will also be available to other agencies as a "regional training location to meet and train with our mutual aid partners to ensure efficient and effective responses to emergencies we encounter on a daily basis."

Annually, each of the city's firefighters must complete a minimum of 18 hours of facility training, as well as 192 hours of company level training, 12 hours of driver training and six hours of hazmat training.

The training will help the department maintain an insurance rating that will contribute to lower premiums in the city.

Until now, North Port firefighters had used the Englewood Fire Training Center and at the home stations.

Coyle noted that because this tower is in the city, crews can remain more available to respond to calls.