BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Owensboro has officially begun construction on a new training facility for the fire department.

What You Need To Know

  • Construction has begun for a new Owensboro Fire Department training facility

  • The facility will offer training, classrooms, and storage for the firefighters

  • The project will cost $30 million

  • Construction for some of the buildings will be done in six to eight weeks, while some of the others will take up until early summer

This will be the first training facility that has been built in about 50 years. Firefighters will now have several new buildings, including one four-story building. The buildings will be equipped with classrooms, training equipment and storage space to park their firetrucks. The project totals up to $30 million.

The old firefighter training facility was torn down and the new one will take the space of the old one.

“There were things you could do, but they weren’t updated structures and it wasn’t really the kind of facilities that would take advantage of the technology that’s available now to train firefighters,” Owensboro Fire Chief James Howard said. “It’s just going to be a much more fruitful training experience, and a much more hands-on training experience than what we had before.”

The other buildings, however, will take a little longer, and will most likely be full constructed by June 2024. 

“As far as adaptability goes, multiple stories, we will be able to simulate going down into the basements, going up the stairs, going up inside and outside of the building, it’s going to be a really different training experience,” Howard explained.

According to Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson, projects like these are possible by saving the city’s money. “We spend it when we need to. Some of us are frugal with it, and we like to save it for a rainy day. We have a really good team that wants to do the right thing,” he shared.

But this isn’t the only act of kindness going toward Owensboro’s first responders. On Nov. 3, 2023, the Owensboro Police Department proposed to have a law enforcement basic training academy. The proposal was approved, and now Owensboro police will have an academy for training such as defensive tactics and patrol procedures within the city. 

Related Stories