City dedicates new OFD training center

Yahoo

02-05-2025

A crowd gathered Thursday to dedicate the Walter Freeman Training Center that has been designed to carry the city's fire department into the future.
Built for $5.525 million, the training center at 1323 Daviess St. includes a new four story fire tower, vehicle bays and a classroom for indoor training.
Fire Chief James Howard said the city began developing the property in 1946, with Freeman leading the charge to turn it into a training area for firefighters.
'…Chief Walter Freeman not only left a mark on this organization, but significantly contributed to the continuing evolution of the property that we're standing on right now,' Howard told the crowd.
Howard said the original drill tower was a wooden structure that was replaced when Freeman became chief in 1973.
'…That was the year in which he oversaw the replacement of that drill tower, that he'd helped build, with a concrete block design as well the addition of a classroom building….' Howard said.
It was shortly after Freeman's death in 1985 that the training center was named after him.
'Time has certainly passed and a new generation has seized the opportunity to remake and expand these training grounds to meet our needs and the training needs of those to come,' Howard said. 'We rededicate these grounds with honor and respect to Chief Walter L. Freeman in recognition of his contributions to this department and this city over his tenure.'
Along with Freeman, two other former firefighters — Starling Lambert and David W. McCrady, have their names attached to areas of the training facility.
Lambert, who served as chief from 1952 to 1970, has been memorialized with the Starling J. Lambert Burn Room, which is the first floor of the new tower.
'…His name from today forward will be synonymous with a space where new recruits are tested to prove that they have what it takes to do this job,' Howard said.
McCrady, who served as the department's training chief, has been memorialized with the David W. McCrady Classroom.
'…His passion for firefighting was contagious,' Howard said. 'He was a mentor; he was a teacher and a friend with a huge heart….'
The fire training center is part of the city's effort to modernize fire facilities through the 'Operation Firehouse' program. By the time the program is complete, all of OFD's facilities, except for Station 5, will have either been remodeled or replaced.
The training center will also be available to county and volunteer firefighters, city officials said.
OFD had been using the old ABC Rentals building on the site for training, but has converted the building into storage. Howard said there are plans to use the building in a different capacity but wasn't ready to announce those details yet.
Mayor Tom Watson said investing in the city fire department's training center and its stations has been a priority.
'Public safety is our main concern as elected officials,' Watson said. '…It's been needed for a while, because when that fire is going on, they need to be protected and they need to be trained well; they have families at home, too.'
The training center also contains safety features such as diesel exhaust filtering systems and fire turnout gear extractors to reduce cancer causing carcinogens that firefighters are exposed to.
Howard, who leads a department of 100 firefighters, said having the training center in a centralized location provides convenience and visibility to the department.
'…We could've built it way out in the county and something to make bigger over the years, but it would've been harder for us to train,' Howard said. 'We train almost every day so trucks can come here to a central location. That's the benefit of this and we want the public to see that we are doing something and practicing these skills.'