资源：Fire Facilities,Sponsored Content
After about 20 years of service at theGreat Oaks Fire Academyin Cincinnati, OH, it was abundantly clear that the burn structure forlive fire trainingand the adjunct tower needed to be replaced. The commercially made structure wasn’t hiding its age or the punishment it had received over the years.
该学院的消防安全服务主管乔尼·梅森（Jonny Mason）说：“由于其年龄，我们开始质疑另一所建筑物的完整性。”“对我们来说，它的年龄还不错。”
梅森（Mason）和他的大约100名讲师和董事会开始寻找新的训练结构，以了解现场火灾训练和其他场景，当他们得知火灾设施，这是高质量钢铁的制造商消防培训towers and steel training buildings located in Sun Prairie, WI.
梅森说，他是一个成员的委员会，致力于寻找新的消防训练设施已有10年了。“我们首先在我们参加的国防部班级旅行中看到了一座火灾设施，并一直关注该公司。我们想第一次将其100％正确。”
委员会开始研究和讨论other users and quickly learned that the live fire training buildings and towers Fire Facilities manufactured were durable and easy to use.
“As an Air Force guy myself, in fire protection, I had to learn more about Fire Facilities,” Mason says. “If the Air Force buys them, and they are happy with them, there has to be something good, and we needed to dig a little deeper.” Mason is a former career消防队员从自由镇（OH）消防部门退休，拥有28年的积极服务，担任中尉。以前，他曾在伍德劳恩（OH）消防局担任船长。他继续在当地的志愿者部门担任消防队长。他拥有教育学士学位和消防科学副学士学位，并在2016年被任命为俄亥俄州消防服务名人堂作为年度俄亥俄州消防教练。
As Great Oaks Fire Academy was going through the process of researching and specifying the firefighter training facility, the Tyndall Air Force Base on the Florida Panhandle took a direct hit from Hurricane Michael which virtually obliterated all the structures on the base. One notable exception was a Fire Facilities training structure, which stood tall while everything around it had been ravaged by the October 18, 2018 storm.
“It was an identical tower to ours, but it was 20 years old,” Mason says. “When I pointed that out to the staff, they were like, ‘Awesome.’”
Durability and high-quality were two key requirements for Great Oaks, Mason says. With literally hundreds of students using the facility each year, the academy needs something to endure the repeated use and remain safe, he adds.
Every year, the academy has about 50 adult students go through the full 18-week firefighter certification course and as many as 150 high school students during the school year using the facilities, he says, noting that high school juniors typically complete Firefighter I certification and seniors come back for Firefighter II certification.
梅森说，该学院每年为该地区的200名消防员举办了许多三天和四天的课程，并指出来自俄亥俄州西南部，印第安纳州和北肯塔基州的所有人员参加。
With the rigorous uses the training academy was expected to have, Mason says maintenance was an important component in making decisions on what kind of structure to purchase.
以前，Great Oaks有一个现场燃烧设施，要求工作人员在每次使用之前都安装抗火焰面板。梅森说：“我是消防学院唯一的全职人士。”188博金宝体育1“Knowing that we had burns scheduled and we’d have to install the [panels] and we’ve got to pull the maintenance guys in that we’ve trained from doing some other important projects, just to get the building ready, it became something we really needed to evaluate.” The academy staff did its homework and went to Fire Facilities knowing what it was looking for, Mason says, adding the building committee wanted something that was low maintenance. Some other training structures required chemical treatments for live fire training such as a two-part waterproofing process that would, necessarily, cut into the burn time and cost more in labor and maintenance costs.
“We figured that if could cut our maintenance time and expense, we could put more in the building,” Mason says. “That, in itself, was worthwhile.”
The Fire Facilities system for burn structures became attractive because of the lower maintenance, Mason says. Fire Facilities uses Westec insulating systems where the steel structure is protected by a nonasbestos, fire-resistant, blanket-like material that is covered by stainless steel, insulating the structures framework from the high temperatures experienced during live fire training, he says, adding the structure is always ready to go with very little preparation. Previously, the staff had to get the burn panels out of storage, hope none were damaged, and then install them before the structure was used–a labor-intensive process, Mason says.
Fire Facilities’ customer service was another extraordinarily attractive selling point, according to Mason, who says he appreciated the company and the work the sales representative, David Tusio, did to make sure Great Oaks got exactly what was needed.
“They deserve credit for patience and understand where we were coming from,” Mason says. “From a customer service aspect, it was outstanding, even when we started and stopped and started and stopped because of funding and other circumstances.”
Mason says there was never a hard sell on Fire Facilities’ part. “They really didn’t try to oversell us,” Mason says. “It was never like, ‘Tell me what your budget is, and I’ll tell you what you can build.’ That really made a difference to me. We didn’t talk money until after we talked about ideas and what we could do compared to what we needed to do…. The question about budget never came up until we were actually at the end of the process and ready to sign contracts.”
Another aspect of customer service Mason says he really appreciated was there was never an issue that came up that couldn’t be resolved. If the Great Oaks staff asked for something that was “a little crazy,” the Fire Facilities staff would respectfully explain why certain ideas couldn’t be achieved. There was never a feeling of high pressure and false promises just to make the sale, he says.
梅森说：“如果有问题，它就解决了。”“我只是认为这是当今时代您看不到的东西。他说，从建筑师到分包商到施工人员和安装人员共同提供优质产品的每个人。
“There was never a problem that was not solvable in a timely fashion,” Mason says. “Even when something was wrong or needed to be corrected, it was done. It was just a joyful experience because they wanted a quality product to put their name behind and that really showed.”
梅森说，即使大橡树董事会的首席执行官在最后一刻说服董事会架设两座建筑物而不是一栋建筑物，这也不是问题。
The academy had decided to build Fire Facilities’ Chief model as well as the Captain model and had originally joined them together on one footprint. But, on further thought, the board decided that separating the buildings gave the staff more flexibility on how to use the facility. Live burns could be done in the Chief model without interfering with other operations, like rope rescue training, on the Captain model, Mason says. Separating them made a lot of operational as well as construction sense, he says.
梅森说：“当我们枢纽时，它根本不会影响火灾设施。”“当被问及我们是否可以将建筑物分开时，他们说，‘当然，没问题；给我们一个星期，我们将为您提供新的图纸。’”
梅森说，决定将热火训练与冷训练大楼分开的决定已经证明是巨大的好处。
梅森说：“我们已经能够参加多个课程，而不必具有安排算法。”“例如，他们和加尔斯进行绳索训练，不必担心烟雾在脸上吹烟或被关在塔上。”
Building two structures instead of just one on the same campus meant the academy never had to shut down its training or travel to another facility to make sure the students got what they needed, Mason says. While the Captain model was constructed on a new footprint on the site, the previous structures could still be used. And when the Chief model for live fire training was completed, the previous training tower and burn building could be demolished and the site cleared with no loss of service.
Great Oaks 188博金宝体育1Fire Academy开设了新的消防设施培训塔楼和燃烧结构，供2021年5月使用，并花了第一个月的时间学习有关系统及其功能的所有可能。梅森说，在“摇摇欲坠的巡游”中，工作人员介绍了300多个现场燃烧的演变，以找出操作程序和有关如何执行方案以及了解所有安全监控系统的调整。梅森说：“那是一个繁忙的月份，但是，男孩，我们从中得到了一些好的培训。”
梅森说，他感谢新消防设施结构的可预测性。内置的安全系统意味着学院工作人员可以安全地为学生提供现实的培训。
梅森说：“如果可以预见，那是可以预防的。”“我们已经采取了巨大的步骤来在建筑物中具有可预测的行为。”
The new burn building mitigates the chance for temperature inversions, and heat saturation on the firefighters and their gear is greatly reduced, he says, noting that the worst incident they’ve experienced so far is a burst hoseline, which had nothing to do with the training buildings.
Realism is important to the academy’s mission, and the new Fire Facilities structure goes a long way to achieving that goal. “Now, we can get into multiple disciplines,” he says. “It’s not just, ‘Let’s light something on fire and put it out and we’ve done live burn training.’ Now, we can throw some ladders and you might actually cut a ventilation hole and ventilate a building.” He adds the system allows for variable smoke conditions from light to heavy.
There are even some built-in features like multiple balconies, both recessed and conventional, and multiple floors with large areas to search. “We have all the different scenarios in one building, in an area that will challenge the new recruits and veteran firefighters as well,” Mason says.
火灾设施的结构之一是梅森真正欣赏的是模块化设计。可以在资金获得并产生需求的情况下进行定制和扩展。
梅森说：“那是最大的卖点之一。”“我们不想在2020年进行设计，因为我们的需求可能会在2023年发生变化。模块化概念使我们能够返回并添加此选项。当您想扩展时，答案不是，‘不，您被所拥有的东西困住了。’”
在选项中，Great Oaks选择从船长塔结构上的内部轴上进行，该轴允许绳索操作卧底，从天气中脱颖而出。该塔还提供了轻松创建狭窄空间的场景和滚动车库门的选项，以保护封闭的空间，该空间可以容纳更大的道具以创建更现实的场景。梅森说，该空间将允许学员遇到强迫入境道具，例如在烟熏封闭区域内，创造另一个环境消防员可能会遇到。
Mason says he is really pleased the training tower has a covered penthouse on the top. He says it’s a nice “creature comfort” that makes the learning environment just that much better, offering protection from the beating sunlight or driving rain during rope rescue training.
梅森开玩笑说：“我认为我们唯一没有提出的选择是直升机滑雪，因为我无法证明它们是合理的。”“相信我，我尝试了。”
有两个消防设施结构ant investment for the Great Oaks Fire Academy with a price tag of about $1.3 million in capital dollars, Mason says, noting that the academy already had the land, and the price also did not reflect the demolition of the previous training structures.
梅森说：“当所有人都说和完成时，这是一项重大投资。”“但是，当您考虑到结构预期寿命的成本时，我们就会变得很大。”梅森说，该学院的首席执行官和董事会希望第一次做正确的事情，并瞄准长期利益。“我们不仅满足了今天的学生的需求，而且还满足了学生的五年，这是十年的路程，这就是灵活性和适应性的来源。”梅森在涉及火灾设施产品的选项和配置方面说“天空是极限”。
Mason says he and the academy faculty are thrilled with the new structures. “They love it,” Mason says. “It’s fun watching them be proud of the building, what they are able to accomplish. We have some great, great instructors who work for every kind of department imaginable, from your big city department to rural water supply operations fire departments.”
讲师对火灾设施的结构有很大的信心，因为他们帮助选择了它，看着它被建造并欣赏设备的质量。梅森谈到他的讲师时说：“我喜欢看着他们在一天结束时微笑。”“他们知道他们正在进行良好的培训，他们知道我们确实为我们所在地区的安全，实时火灾训练设定了标准，并且学生受到保护，教练受到保护。培训具有挑战性，但这是现实和安全的。”
The students themselves are equally pleased with the training structures, Mason says, noting that he’s particularly pleased with the reaction of the academy alumni. “The best feedback is from the former students who trained in the old building,” Mason says. “I call it the ‘wow factor.’ I love listening to them say, ‘I really wish we had this when I was going through.’ When they see just how much we’ve improved, from the basic level recruit training to what we have now, they can see the challenge to make their skills even sharper.”
The new students are impressed too, Mason says. “They just think it’s the greatest thing. They think it’s huge,” he quips.
梅森说，学生可以从从业人员那里学习的教师学习，并补充说，当工作人员遇到现实世界中的某些东西时，他们可以以一个新的想法进入学院，并准备好重现。他说，火灾设施建筑足够灵活，可以通过体验来修改和创建场景。
“In the training world, you’re always pursuing the ominous words of realistic and relevant for your training scenarios,” Mason says. “I think we are as close to that as you can get and still provide state-of-the art, safe, live burn training …. The buildings are getting used and proving the value for the dollar. The return on investment is going to be exponential over the expected life.”
梅森（Mason）在他所监督的学院完成了新的培训大楼，使自己的脑袋高高地保持头顶。他为消防设施提供的产品感到自豪。梅森说：“建造后建造，开放后，消防设施提供的后续行动表明他们为建筑物感到非常自豪。”他指出，消防设施的工作人员正在使用Great Oaks设施进行证明，并告诉所有人它拥有什么优秀的结构。“这很酷，”梅森说。“一点点骄傲，我们可以说我们建造了一个非常非常好的建筑……。从概念艺术到最终交付，每一步，消防设施都很棒。如果你问我，我们把它撞掉了公园。”
校正（3/18/2022）：该故事的先前版本是迈克尔飓风的日期，截至2019年5月31日。
