The Rochelle City Council and Ogle-Lee Fire Protection District Board of Trustees recently approved a $669,000 purchase for the third phase of their joint fire training facility at 920 S. Main St. in Rochelle.

The entities split expenses equally for the facility that opened in September 2023.

Phase three will involve a three-story structure to simulate incidents within a multi-story building, both residential and commercial. The prefabricated structure includes burn rooms, stair wells, fire escapes, standpipes, balconies and a simulated elevator shaft. The structure is designed to facilitate high-angle technical rescue drills and confined space drills.

Delivery of the structure and construction is estimated to take place and be completed within 14 months. Concrete work for the project is estimated to cost an additional $30,000.

Phase one of the project involved securing the property and building infrastructure that included two concrete pads, water drainage, water retention, water supply including two hydrants and a parking lot with curbing. Phase two included the placement of two prefabricated training structures. One single-story structure features a built-in burn room, staircase, moveable walls, and a rooftop prop and the second structure simulates a residential or commercial garage.

Rochelle Fire Department Lt. Tyler Carls serves as training officer for RFD and the OLFPD. He said both organizations were “ecstatic” to see the new phase of the facility approved.

“From a boots on the ground firefighter perspective, this is awesome,” Carls said. “This is definitely something our local jurisdiction needs and will benefit from for many years to come. This is going to be super beneficial for us because we have a lot of multi-family dwellings in the community like apartment buildings and assisted living facilities. This will really allow us to dial in our response and prepare our membership to respond to a fire in that type of building.”

Before the fire training facility, Rochelle-area firefighters trained at their stations, at facilities in other communities, or in homes or buildings slated for demolition. Carls said the 920 S. Main St. facility allows for convenient, interagency training. RFD and the OLFPD respond together to any structure fires within their coverage areas.

Carls said when he first started training, it was done on the fire station floor and in its basement. Now, local firefighters have a building they can have live fire and smoke in and utilize theatrical smoke. The upcoming phase three will expand on that, allowing for practice on situations like running hoses up staircases, carrying people down stairs, and window ladder rescues.

“There’s a benefit to putting someone in a situation that they’re realistically going to face on the street,” Carls said. “I put a firefighter in a drill and use their hood to black out their face piece so they can’t see. That gives them a little bit of an idea, but now you turn the heat on and the actual smoke and pressure gives them the real life experience of what to expect. These are all skills that need to be practiced pretty regularly to stay fluent. This new building will allow us to do more to make sure our firefighters are prepared.”

The fire training facility is used every week by RFD and the OLFPD. Full-time RFD staff train at the facility while on duty when they aren’t responding to calls, with drills including searches, driver training, pump operator training, stretching hose lines, extrication drills and more. Firefighters from the OLFPD stations of Hillcrest, Steward, Flagg Center and Creston train there at least twice a month, Carls said.

Carls said that over the past two years, the fire training facility has enhanced firefighters’ knowledge, skills and abilities.

“Everything in firefighting comes down to fundamentals and having this type of facility in our own backyard affords the opportunity for more repetition for our members to get that muscle memory,” Carls said. “Seeing the skillset change from when I first started to now, it’s just increased tenfold.”

Rochelle City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said he’s been pleased to see the project progress in recent years since securing the land for it. He’s proud of the city’s partnership with the OLFPD and hopes other entities will be able to use the facility in coming years if additional expansion such as an on-site classroom comes to fruition.

“We’re looking at other ways the facility can be utilized, specifically for utilities,” Fiegenschuh said. “When the city and OLFPD get to a point where they are looking at another expansion and a classroom, utility operations, public works and any city department that could utilize it for training would be brought in. Other area fire departments and police agencies could participate in the future as well.”

Carls thanked Fiegenschuh, RFD Chief Dave Sawlsville, the Rochelle City Council and the OLFPD Board of Trustees for bringing the project to its latest phase.

“I’m very appreciative that our members have been allowed to dream big and that we were given an opportunity to present this to all of the stakeholders involved to make sure we can provide the best service we can to the citizens and make sure our people are trained,” Carls said. “This facility will save lives. It will save the lives of our membership and make sure we’re prepared to do the job and save the lives of the general public.”