Brandon burn house to get a boost

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This article was published 26/09/2020 (1974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After 22 years of being set on fire, doused in water and set on fire again, time has taken its toll on the Manitoba Emergency Services College “burn house.”

The province announced Friday it would be putting out a request for proposals to replace the battered building, which lies just west of the Brandon Municipal Airport. The structure is used by students at the college to simulate live fires and rescue operations in a safe environment.

After 22 years of repeated fires and and being used as a live training site, it’s neared its end of life cycle, Municipal Relations Minister Rochelle Squire said.

The four-storey metal building has visible scorch marks all over it and the inside is burned black. While the college can replace certain parts, Squires said the goal is to have a training site on par with other facilities in Canada.

“We just want to be able to offer a live fire training experience so that when firefighters leave the college they’re well prepared to go into a situation,” she said.

“That situation may come on day one of their new jobs or day 300 after they’re had on the job training, but they need to be able to hit the ground running.”

While the structure is at the Brandon college, fire departments around the province also use it for training.

Squires wouldn’t say how much the budget for the new building is but said the province wants the best site possible. Students will learn how to deal with fire in different building environments and practice a variety of rescue techniques in the new building.

A new burn house is the top priority at the college, but Squires said the province may also replace other training equipment on the campus.

The building is still safe to use, but the new structure will be more modern and use technology that wasn’t around when it was first built in 1997, said acting fire commissioner Ryan Schenk.

“We’re going to be able to change configurations so our scenarios are unpredictable. We’re going to be training firefighters on different techniques, on modernized techniques,” he said.

“The way of fighting fires has changed because of construction materials that are out there — fires burn hotter and they burn faster. We need to modernize the way we simulate and deliver that training.”

Mayor Rick Chrest said he was pleased with the announcement of a new training structure at the college and said many firefighter/paramedics who work for Brandon Fire and Emergency Services went through the Manitoba Emergency Services College program.

The province is expecting to get materials by the spring and have the building completed by next fall. The existing burn house will still be used in the interim for aspiring firefighters to train on.

The request for proposal issued Friday closes on Oct. 26. According to the listing, three companies had requested documents; one in Winnipeg, one in Ontario and one in Wisconsin.

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