CALHOUN COUNTY, S.C. — Calhoun County is advancing a plan for a new fire training facility. It will be located along Doodle Hill Road just outside the town of St. Matthews.
Local firefighters say they're hoping a new centrally-located facility will allow them to better serve residents throughout the county.
“It’s a much-needed facility," said Calhoun County Rural Fire District Coordinator Jeff Price.
According to Price, the county's former training facility in St. Matthews was built in the early 2000s. It was used for about 20 years until it became damaged in a fire.
The county has since purchased new containers and is working toward moving into a location away from the town's center.
“We were starting to get quite a few complaints about the smoke conditions we were creating inside the town limits of St. Matthews," said Price.
In the interim, firefighters have been traveling to other counties like Orangeburg to receive training about twice a year. The assistant fire chief of the Sandy Run District said this has created some service disruptions.
“It’s tough to take a whole station out of service to go 45 to 50 minutes away in order to get the mandated training that you need but we’ve managed to do what we could and when we could," said Wolfe.
The new location will allow firefighters to train closer to home.
“We’ll be able to train more on live burns. We’ll be able to train more on search and rescue in a smoky environment. It’s gonna help county residents with ISO ratings," said Price.
The new facility will be a 16-by-40-foot two-story building. Price estimated the county will invest about $40,000 and the goal is to start construction within the next two months.
The county has already begun grading the land where the facility will be located.