By Angel Streeter
Sun-Sentinel
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Firefighters have a new place to set fires. It’s on a former dump.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue on Monday dedicated its new 63,000-square-foot administration building and training complex on 40 acres, 30 acres of which used to be a landfill, near Southern Boulevard and Florida’s Turnpike. The center opened about two months ago.
It’s the first training ground for county firefighters and paramedics, who in the past torched vacant houses throughout the county to get training. Now at their disposal: a six-story tower with diverse floor plans that fill with smoke, a two-story burn building where firefighters practice putting out fires, a small building that allows trainees to get a look at how fire grows and behaves and an emergency vehicle driving course.
There’s a field with props — an old propane truck, trash bin and gas grill — that are connected by pipe to an actual propane tank. The props fill with gas, fire erupts and firefighters race to put it out.
“It has everything a fire college would have,” said Capt. Don DeLucia.
The training campus, on the defunct landfill, is the second largest fire training center in the state; the Florida State Fire College in Ocala is the largest. While would-be firefighters still have to attend the state college, the Palm Beach County site will train rookies and offer refresher courses to veterans.
Fire-rescue officials hope the complex will become a regional training facility that other fire departments will use. Space also has been set aside for disaster training. Props include the fuselage of an airplane and a school bus toppled on its side in a ditch.
“We want to make sure our firefighters and paramedics have the best possible training,” said Chief Herman Brice, whose name graces the new building and training complex.
Brice began his effort to develop a training ground for his staff more than 15 years ago. His department found a deal from the Solid Waste Authority, which offered an abandoned dump and next to it land used to store junk cars and old tires.
Turning the site into fire-rescue headquarters cost $37 million, paid for with fire-rescue taxes, and took 15 months to build. Money for the complex was stashed aside for the last seven years so it was paid for upfront with no financing.
“If this was going up 18 months from now, we would not be building this facility,” said County Commission Chairman Jeff Koons at the complex’s dedication ceremony on Monday.