Maintaining our Firefighters’ high standard of training is essential for us to provide Safer Communities, Safer Firefighters.
A new training facility on the former Clough Road Fire Station in Hull, which is next door to the current fire station that opened in 2015, is ready for our Firefighters to train in.
The Service already has a variety of training facilities situated around the four local authorities it serves. The industrial building that is visible from the busy Clough Road, includes state of the art training facilities that provide our Firefighters with a realistic environment to train in. These include a cold (synthetic) smoke that provides the realistic training environment of a burning building, without the need to burn clean (new and uncontaminated) wood, which is better for the environment and reduces the impact of smoke on the nearby businesses and people passing by the facility.
The concept noise system adds to the realistic training situation to maintain our Firefighters skills when responding to real emergencies. There is a confined space area that helps our Firefighters train for when they must access difficult and confined spaces to rescue a casualty. The facility has an external area for Road Traffic Collison (RTC) training, which provides ample space to practice cutting and making vehicles safe that have been in a collision. Building work started in January this year, with initial completion date set for May. However, Covid-19 affected our plans and building work was suspended in March. Following guidance from the government and maintaining a Covid secure site, the contractors returned at the beginning of May and the building was completed at end of July.
Group Manager Matt Sutcliffe said: “There are many people that have had an involvement and input into the facility as it has developed over a number of years, but to see this developed in such a quick time and through the height of Covid-19 is testament to everyone’s desire to make things happen.
"Having seen the attention to detail in the planning and building stages, it’s clear to see that the number of training activities that can be carried out with this building is extensive. This will benefit the training and competency of our crews in Hull and the surrounding stations.”