'Opportunities are endless': New firefighter training facility north of Saskatoon to serve as hub for region

The City of Saskatoon is embarking on a new venture with the cities of Warman and Martensville, as well as the RM of Corman Park, beginning with the construction on a first-of-its-kind in Saskatchewan training facility.

“We've got a growing city, we need to have better fire training facilities so that they can be safe, so that they can make sure they can do the best job of putting fires out as quickly as possible and reducing damage to the community,” Saskatoon mayor Charlie Clark said during a groundbreaking event on Wednesday..

Saskatoon's fire chief Morgan Hackl says the new facility will be able to train hundreds of firefighters at a time, vastly expanding the capabilities of the current facilities which he says are limited to around 50.

“The opportunities are endless,” the Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) chief said of the facility, which will serve as a training hub for the region.

“Props and specific training areas will be, for example, confined space rescue, technical rescue, high angle rescue, hazardous materials training, rail training, we'll be able to have rail props here, and we can have our team specifically trained using those props.”

Hackl says emergency services and paramedics will also be able to receive training at the facility, which will be open 365 days a year.

“The benefit will be immense,” he said. “It will be immense for SFD and Warman and Martensville and other regional fire services, but the true benefit at that point will be for other partnerships across the province.”

The facility is located just north of Saskatoon off range road 3053, sitting on 40 acres of land, and Clark says finding the location was one of the major hurdles in getting the project started.

“I don't think this would have been possible a decade ago, given the nature of the relationships in the region,” Clark said.

“People in the past, it sometimes felt threatening to sort of say, 'Let's cooperate on things,' and then people wouldn't. Municipalities will hold their cards close to their chest, but the planning for growth … has been really fundamental for helping us to realize and think about the benefits of how we can build better together.”

Warman mayor Gary Philipchuk says the facility will be a boon for the community's volunteer fire department.

“We look at the training possibilities of making sure that our members are trained to their capacity with being able to protect our community and neighbouring areas,” he said.

Clark says the city received funding from the provincial government during the pandemic to be a catalyst for investment in projects, and $4.25 million was allocated for land acquisition and to prepare for construction.

“We are working with our partners and identifying the next stage,” he said.

“In terms of the construction of the buildings, it will be done in a phased process so we won't have the full facility in its in its final form up and running right away.”

Hackl says phase one is expected to be completed in the spring of 2023, with phase two still in the planning stages.