BY KEVIN IMM

The Cool Springs Volunteer Fire Department hosted a community open house on Saturday, November 30, for the department’s new Firefighter Training Facility at 144 Fifth Creek Road. The facility, which is located behind Firehouse 2, is constructed of seven shipping containers. Modifications and additions were completed by D.R. Reynolds Co., which also constructed the Cool Springs VFD firehouse at 672 Mocksville Highway in 2017.

The training facility has burn rooms for live fire training on both floors, a stand-pipe system on three levels in the interior stairwell, a forcible entry trainer, and wall breach trainer as well as a ceiling breach trainer. There is a roof ventilation training prop on the second floor that can be moved up and down to any desired pitch and can be moved horizontally out over the edge of the second-floor deck for advanced ventilation training. The state-of-the-art facility will sharpen the skills of the fire fighters to better serve the community they protect

K&M Electric of Statesville installed the lighting and electrical outlets for the facility. There are two other shipping containers on site that will be used to store straw, drywall and other materials needed for the training as well as equipment to be used by the firefighters as they train.

The Board of Directors made the commitment to finance construction of the facility to provide advanced training for the 68 men and women who make up the department’s active roster

Members of the department have decided to give the training facility a name, The Mill. 

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