Nice Surprise—State Funding for Fire Training Facility on Oakdale Border Comes Through

After the Legislature ended its regular session in May, Oakdale Fire Chief Jeff Anderson had filed away his papers documenting plans for a new East Metro Regional Fire Training facility on the Oakdale/Maplewood border.

Their request for $3 million in state bonding money to build the center had been vetoed in 2010, and with seemingly no action this year, he figured they’d take the request back to the Legislature again in 2012.

“We thought, well it’s going to be next spring before we even get our next shot to go in and see if we can come up with the funding,” he said.

So he was pretty surprised when he got a call while on vacation from Maplewood Fire Chief Steve Lukin saying that their request had made it into bonding bill that was part of the budget deal to end the .

“When I heard that that was part of the agreement between the parties there, that there was a $500 million bonding bill, I guess the thought went through my mind,” that the facility might make it into the bill, Anderson said. “The next thing I heard was when Steve (Lukin) called—it was in there; it’s done; it’s passed.”

The new facility will save time, allow them to train more often and give them training opportunities that they don’t currently have, Anderson said.

Currently, Oakdale firefighters either acquire buildings that are going to be demolished to use for live fire training, or use a training building in St. Paul where they can bring in combustible items like wooden pallets to ignite.

The concrete “burn building” at the new facility—to be located in Maplewood west of Century Avenue where it intersects with Highway 5—will be equipped with a system to fuel fires with propane or natural gas, Anderson said. This means instructors can simply turn off a fire if something goes wrong.

“It’s in a much more controlled or safer environment,” Anderson said. “Right now there is nothing like what’s being proposed here that is available to us.”

The only other Twin Cities training facility like it is in Edina, which is too far away for the department to take its people and equipment, he said.

Even when training in St. Paul, the department must go in shifts so that there are enough public safety personnel in Oakdale, but when the new facility is built, the whole department will be able to train together.

While the Maplewood and Oakdale fire departments spearheaded the project, Anderson said any cities in Ramsey, Washington and Dakota counties could be part of a joint powers agreement to operate the new facility, and fire departments that aren’t in the agreement will be able to rent it out for training. Century College has also expressed interest in using the facility for its public safety training courses, he said.

Sen. Chuck Wiger said the project made it into the bonding bill through, “a lot of contacts and persistence.” Many area fire chiefs contacted their legislators, he said.

In the past, the project had twice made it into bills passed by the Legislature, and twice been line-item vetoed out of the bills by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, he said.

“This has been a few years in progress and so it just took a lot of persistent follow-up,” he said. “It’s very competitive.”

Even in last-minute negotiations, the project was pulled from the bonding bill, and then re-inserted, said Wiger (DFL-Maplewood).

Not only persistence, he said, but the merits of the project, helped secure the funds.

“This is a great project and it’s shovel-ready, as they say, and there’re various contributors that will assist in making it happen,” he said. “We’re very pleased and most importantly, for the public, this is ultimately intended to serve for public safety.”