Members of Columbia River Fire and Rescue continue to meet each week with representatives from WRG Fire Training Simulation Systems Inc. to discuss the project and progress.

Bill Gee of WRG shows Lee Broadbent and Lt. Dave Coombs the continued development of the facility.

The Lee Broadbent Training Center received a very generous donation from Boise Paper on November 2, 2006. A retired storage tank was moved to the training site which will be utilized as a confined space technical rescue simulation prop.
The 29,000 tank was positioned upright and stands 46 feet tall. Confined space rescue is a common scenario for the Specialized Multi-Agency Rescue Team (S.M.A.R.T.) which is made up of personnel from Columbia River Fire And Rescue, Boise Paper and the City of St. Helens. The team consists of 24 members who train every 6 weeks for 8 hours. The partnership between public and private employees makes it one of only a few similar type of rescue teams across the nation. S.M.A.R.T Coordinator, Captain Randy Peterson of Columbia River Fire and Rescue, said "The confined space technical rescue training facility will be one of the best in the state, if not the region."

October has been a busy month at the training center site and the structures are beginning to take recognizable shape. Some of the accomplishments this month include the foundation being poured for both structures. The FAST building structure is erect and the DePriest prop has been sited and flatwork has been poured. We also received delivery of some of the portable props and a donation of precast pipe for confined space training. Finally, we began choosing paint colors for the buildings and enlisted the help of our Community Liaison Specialist, Hyla Ridenour to make some of the selections.

Construction on the training center is rapidly progressing! The transformation of the site can be seen on a daily basis.
Division Chief Brian Burright inspects the structural beams already set in place.

On Friday of each week, members of Columbia River Fire and Rescue meet with the engineer/contractor, WRG Fire Training Simulation Systems, Inc., to review the facility design and progress on the project.

More photographs from the groundbreaking ceremony.

Welcome to our Lee Broadbent Training Center blog. We will update this site as construction progresses. The live-fire training facility is a long-time dream of Columbia River Fire and Rescue's Board of Directors President, Lee Broadbent, who is a retired Division Chief from the District.
Groundbreaking for the center took place on September 8, 2006 at our training grounds on McNulty Way in St. Helens, OR. Construction has begun and completion of the project is expected in the fall of 2007. WRG Fire Training Simulation Systems, Inc is the contractor for the facility. The training center will allow emergency responders to simulate realistic scenarios while learning in a safe and controllable environment.