Plano Firefighters Say They Need New Training Facility

Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter

PLANO (CBS11) - Plano's fire department has a small training tower now, but they can't repel off it, and they can't even set it on fire.

Now with a building boom changing the nature of firefighting in Plano, first responders hope a new facility will help keep them ready for what's coming.

No one knows better than Juany Spevak how important response times are.

When her home caught fire earlier this year, Plano police officers happened to be nearby and helped save her son before firefighters even got there.

When firefighters got there, it was just in time.

"They were really, really fast at getting to my house. My house was not a total loss, so they were able to control that fire pretty soon," Spevak said.

Plano Fire Chief Sam Greif says when they got Spevak's call, firefighters who happened to be training in Plano were able to quickly stop training and get to her house.

But a lot of training currently happens at facilities outside the city which can lead to slower response times if those firefighters need to be recalled.

"There's certain things we can't even do. We just don't have those capabilities right now," Greif said.

That's why Greif wants to build a new training facility in Plano where firefighters can practice techniques like repelling from tall buildings and performing elevator rescues.

"As our structures go vertical, as the type of buildings that are being built, your tactics and how you approach that has to be commensurate with what's coming," Greif said.

Greif says keeping firefighters trained and close to home will help the department maintain it's high safety ratings, and as a real estate agent, Spevak says that will maintain one of her biggest selling points to keep people wanting to move to Plano.

"When a city is safe, with regards like having the firefighters coming very soon and just being safe, the homeowners' insurance is lower," Spevak said.

Plano has approved hiring 31 more firefighters to help lower response times.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)