Chattanooga will receive $1.5 million from Hamilton County to replace an almost 50-year-old fire training tower at the Chattanooga Fire and Police Training Center at 3200 Amnicola Highway.
“This has been a long-standing need,” Chattanooga Fire Chief Phil Hyman told the Chattanooga Times Free Press by phone on Monday. “The drill tower that’s currently there was built in 1976 and has certainly far passed its length of service to not only the city of Chattanooga but the surrounding fire departments in this region that use it as well.”
The cost of replacing the tower will be about $3 million, Hyman said, and he hopes to receive matching funds from the city in the next budget cycle. He doesn’t yet have a timeline for construction.
Firefighters use the existing six-story structure to train in practical scenarios, such as blazes in high-rise buildings. Urban search and rescue personnel use the tower to practice rope work, Hyman said, and scaling it also acts as a physical fitness exercise for new recruits.