CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Fast and efficient, that’s what we want when an emergency strikes.
"We at the Cape Fire Department strive to be better every single day, and this is one of the tools that we're going to utilize to, to do that,” said Jason Huffman, Battalion Chief of Training.
Huffman says a new live fire training facility will do just that, help them be better and faster.
Fox 4's Bella Line shows us inside the training facility before it opens:
"The more sets and reps that they get, the more confident and efficient they're going to be,” said Huffman.
Huffman says it’s the first of its kind in Cape Coral.
"We typically were relying on acquired structures for people donating houses or commercial buildings,” said Huffman.
With live fire props in many of the rooms, it will give their firefighters a real feel in their training.
"We've been going down to Bonita Springs, which is about an hour and 30 minutes drive, typically, to get some live fire training, and we weren't able to capture our whole department,” said Huffman.
The total cost is expected to be around $12.8 million, but by not having to spend time or money driving to Bonita they say it will pay off in the long run.
Plus, the facility will help their ISO rating, which helps your insurance rates.
"They take a look at our training hours, and that's one of the areas we were really lacking,” said Huffman.
The building is not done yet, but soon you may be able to see firefighters hard at training here.
