Schenectady seeks to improve fire training facility

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

The Schenectady Fire Department's training tower and mask confidence training structure at Golf Road and Oregon Avenue Thursday, March 31, 2022.

SCHENECTADY — A training facility used regularly by members of the Schenectady Fire Department is set to undergo much-needed rehabilitation following years of use.

The city is planning to rehab the facility at the corner of Oregon Avenue and Golf Road at an estimated cost of $500,000, according to Assistant Chief Don Mareno. The city received a $250,000 state grant to offset the cost.

Mareno said the facility, which includes two buildings that stand at two and five stories, respectively, dates back 80 years and is used almost daily. Members fill the structures with theatrical smoke and practice fire-suppression tactics, bailout exercise and ladder training under real-life conditions.

“We’ve been working on it for a while,” Mareno said. “It took some time to get funding.”

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The city has already started cleaning up the property by removing weeds, securing broken windows and sweeping out plaster and other debris that had fallen following years of use, Mareno said.

Plans call for simply rehabbing the five-story tower and demolishing and rebuilding the adjacent two-story structure. Work, some of which will be completed by city crews, is expected to begin later this year, Mareno said.

A contract for the project is currently out for bid and is expected to be awarded sometime next month, according to Mareno, who noted the department will conduct its training at a separate location while work is being completed.

“We always adapt and change,” he said.

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The city is also in the early stages of restoring its derelict police firing range, located in the basement of the Schenectady Police Department’s Liberty Street headquarters. The project is expected to cost $1.2 million, including $400,000 in parts.

The City Council, last week, recently awarded three contracts totaling $545,715 for electrical, plumbing and ventilation components of the project. A fourth contract for general contracting is expected to be awarded in the coming weeks.

Contact reporter Chad Arnold at: 518-410-5117 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @ChadGArnold.