Bluffton firefighters to train with real flames at new center
Bluffton's newest hot spot won't be a hip bar on Calhoun Street or a fancy restaurant on the Promenade, but a nondescript mass of steel on Burnt Church Road.
That's where the Bluffton Township Fire District is building a new facility that will allow personnel to train under real-life conditions.
That means real smoke, real flames, real heat.
The roughly $700,000 training center is "really going to help take our department into the future in terms of training," district spokesman Capt. Randy Hunter said.
Near the corner of Burnt Church Road and Bridge Street and beside the fire district's Station 30, the new training center will include a two-story structure designed to mimic a single-family home.
The structure will have a series of doors, windows and interior features that can be reconfigured to simulate different house fire scenarios, Hunter said.
The facility will also include a four-story training tower that will allow firefighters to practice extinguishing blazes they might encounter at apartment complexes or hotels.
Currently, district firefighters have to travel to Marine Corps Depot Parris Island or Hilton Head Island to conduct training in fiery conditions. That potentially keeps key personnel from responding to emergencies in and around Bluffton, according to Hunter.
When the new facility is completed, "we will have everything we need right here in Bluffton, which makes the logistics much easier for training," Hunter said.
Only hay and wood pallets will be burned during training exercises, so people in nearby schools, businesses and neighborhoods won't be breathing in chemical fumes, Hunter said.
The site will "be fenced in and secured so we don't have members of the public going in and out," he added.
"Safety-wise there is no danger to anyone except the firefighters training."
The Beaufort County Council approved a funding package and contract to build the facility late last month.
Contractors are clearing the land and preparing to raise the steel building frame. District officials expect the facility to be ready by summer.
Follow reporter Lucas High on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Lucas.
Related content:
- New Bluffton fire station now open, Aug. 6, 2013
This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Bluffton firefighters to train with real flames at new center."