Design for fire school goes out to bid

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The Naugatuck Valley Regional Fire Training School will be built on 11 acres of state-owned land in the Pinesbridge Commerce Park. –FILE PHOTO
The Naugatuck Valley Regional Fire Training School will be built on 11 acres of state-owned land in the Pinesbridge Commerce Park. –FILE PHOTO

BEACON FALLS — Construction of a new Naugatuck Valley Regional Fire Training School has taken one more step forward.

State Sen. Joseph Crisco (D-17), whose district includes Beacon Falls, recently announced the design for the school has gone out to bid.

“It is imperative that our first responders have a permanent home for the regional fire training school and no longer have to travel around the state to learn modern firefighting techniques,” said Crisco in the release.

The Naugatuck Valley Regional Fire Training School was closed in 2000 after the property in Derby was declared a brownfield. The search for a new site for the Valley school eventually led to Beacon Falls.

In 2010, the state purchased four lots, 11 acres in all, for $862,500 in the Pinesbridge Commerce Park for the school.

In January the state Bond Commission earmarked $1.5 million for the environmental remediation and architectural design for five fire schools in the state, including the one to be built in Beacon Falls. The other four schools are slated to be built in Fairfield, Torrington, Willimantic and Cheshire.

At the time, Department of Construction Services Assistant Director of Project Management Don Ouillette said the funding will be spent as needed, rather than any amount being assigned to a specific location. Ouillette could not be reached for comment for this article.

Construction of the new school in Beacon Falls is expected to begin in the latter half of 2015, according to the news release.

Once it is completed, the fire school will serve firefighters in nine towns: Ansonia, Seymour, Shelton, Derby, Orange, Woodbridge, Oxford, Beacon Falls and Bethany.