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The Auburn Training Ground receives a grant for new training tower
A state agency gave the Auburn Fire Training Center a $100,000 grant Wednesday.The Indiana Department of
Homeland Security announced the grant for the Auburn Fire Department to use
toward the completion of a training tower at the city’s training center.
Auburn Fire Chief Mike VanZile said the five-floor, 50-foot tower is estimated to cost $200,000.
The tower’s base had already been completed when the department lost funding six or seven years ago and
construction stopped, VanZile said. “This $100,000 will go a long way toward
getting it started,” he said.
The training center, used by area fire departments, began in 1993 with a pole barn used to practice with fire
ladders. It was designated in 2006 as the first state-sponsored firefighting
training center.
“We’re always wanting to add
new things that will make our facility better,” VanZile said. "The tower", he said, “is
actually a big piece of our puzzle that was missing.”
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