Gwinnett Fire Academy Opens Education Building

From Gwinnett Fire

The Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services announced the completion of the new educational building as part of the current Fire Academy expansion project.

The building is part of Phase-II, which began in late summer 2014. Phase-I of the project was completed in spring of 2014 and included a heavy duty driving instruction pad and a block storage building with an observation deck for driving instructors.

The Fire Academy Educational Building is located at 3608 Braselton Highway in Dacula.

“This is a much needed facility and will allow the department to meet its future training needs for entry level positions and continuing education for existing personnel,” said Gwinnett Fire Captain Tommy Rutledge.

Approval to move forward with the Phase-II expansion was approved by the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners at their business session on June 17, 2014. The contractor completed construction of the education building within the required time frame. The contractor will have an additional year to complete construction on the apparatus building and training pavilion also being added to the campus. The Phase-II expansion includes the education building, apparatus building and a large training pavilion. The department plans to continue using the existing burn building and high-rise training tower already located on the campus.

The education building consists of eight-large training classrooms and administrative offices. Each classroom will provide an environment for conducting specialized training in EMT, paramedic, firefighting and career development. The new education building is two-stories and replaces an outdated one-level building that was constructed in 1984. The new facility will feature approximately 35,000 square feet of educational and office space, compared to the former facility which measured 8,525

Total costs for the Phase-II expansion is $9,736,000 and is funded by the voter-approved 2009 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). Fire Chief Casey Snyder emceed a ribbon cutting ceremony, which was held on Tuesday, October 20th. The ceremony included special remarks by Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash and District 3 Commissioner Tommy Hunter. District 1 Commissioner Jace Brooks, District 2 Commissioner Lynette Howard, District 4 Commissioner John Heard, County Administrator Glenn Stephens and Deputy County Administrator Phil Hoskins, were also in attendance. Tours of the new facility were conducted by the Fire Academy staff.

NEW FACILITY

The new facility will feature the following:

• 35,000 square feet of educational classroom and administrative office space
• Eight-large classrooms
• Student resource center
• Kitchen
• Workout room
• Conference room
• Instructor offices
• Training pavilion (pending construction)
• 3-bay apparatus building with classrooms (pending construction)

FORMER FACILITY

• 8,525 square feet of educational classroom and administrative office space
• Three classrooms
• Two office trailers
• Burn building
• High-rise training tower
• Equipment building