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Lansing Fire Commissioners discussed a bid last week to erect a fire response training tower.  Training towers are special fire-proof buildings in which fires can be set to provide firefighters with realistic training situations.  The tower itself will cost the district nearly $85,000, but with additional costs including a certified contractor to erect the tower, and possible infrastructure additions to the current training pad, the cost could rise to nearly $190,000.

Commissioners say that the project has been considered for about eight years, and funding is already allocated.  A contractor based in Louisiana bid $188,000 to purchase and erect the tower, but commissioners said they would prefer to use a local contractor, which they estimated would save the district about $30,000.  The added cost is related to license fees and insurance for an out of state contractor to work in New York State.  Fire Chief Scott Purcell said that some of the money saved could be used for a short length of roadway to the training tower and additional lighting.

District Treasurer Alvin Parker said that Fire Facilities, the manufacturer of the tower package, had quoted $83,610 for the building package itself, and a total of $151,200 with freight and labor.  He said they had recommended three possible contractors to erect it, and recommended getting back to them to see if they would honor that price.

"After we opened this bid (Deputy Fire Chief Brad George) suggested that we step back and see what the person from Fire Facilities could do," he said.  "He said it was something like a $38,000 difference.  He said Mike Drake, who has been talking to the Fire facilities people, would get back to them and see what those other contractors would put the building up for."

The tower will be located at an existing training pad in the field behind Central Station on Ridge Road.  The concrete pad is regularly used to train Lansing and neighboring communities' firefighters to respond to vehicle emergencies.  A tower will extend Lansing's capability to train for all kinds of fires.


The training tower Lansing is purchasing is one of the more modest models Fire Facilities offers.  While the high end towers go as high as four stories and have two-story residential sections, also for training, attached, the model Lansing has its eye on is a two-story burn building.  A burn room on the first floor includes insulation and temperature monitoring.  The buildng has interior stairs and a ship's ladder on the exterior, as well as a ladder on the second floor that leads to the roof.  Windows have steel shutters, and a roof chop-out curb facilitates ventilation exercises.  There is also a balcony on the second floor.

The department has used the old movie theaters at the Ithaca Mall for fire training since 2007.  That arrangement has come to an end with the addition of new stores in the mall.  Lansing Firefighters have also frequently used Ithaca's training tower.

Lansing commissioners say that having their own tower could speed up training and provide another training option for other departments as well, taking some of the pressure off of the scheduling of the Ithaca facility, which they say is becoming more difficult in the wake of increasing state requirements.

Lansing Volunteer Fire Department members respond to between 900 and 1,000 emergency calls each year.  In 2014 they responded to 933 fire and EMS calls, with a total of 4,944 personnel responses.  Department members participated in 2312 hours of training last year.

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