Johnson City breaks ground on new firefighter training facility

Johnson City officials and firefighters broke ground on a new fire training center on a three-acre property behind the city’s Fire Station No. 7 on Walnut Street. The facility will include training classrooms, a driver training area, burn pad, and live-fire training tower giving agencies across the county access to hands-on experience. The new training center replaces a previous center that has been inactive for 10 years after the department outgrew the space and the facility no longer met evolving standards. The new facility will provide exceptional access for current and future fire fighters to have immersive and experiential learning. The $4.6 million project was financed through ARPA funds, designed by Shawn & Shanks Architects, and built GRC Construction.