August 8, 2023
North Bend, Washington – The Washington State Patrol’s Fire Training Academy will dedicate two new ‘burn buildings’ at 1:00 PM on Friday, August 11 at the state’s primary fire training facility in North Bend. The structures will allow larger and more realistic live-fire training exercises and will be heavily used by firefighting agencies across the state in the years to come. Media members are invited to attend for coverage of the ribbon cutting and brief remarks by state leaders, followed by live-fire demonstrations as well as guided tours of the expansive fire-fighting training complex. (For logistics planning, Media planning on attending are asked to let Mr. Loftis know.) Photographs can be found here.
Background: Many people are unaware that the State Fire Marshal’s Office is organized as a bureau within the Washington State Patrol. Dedicated to the protection of life, property, and the environment from the devastation of fire, the Fire Protection Bureau consists of Emergency Mobilization, Fire Code and Information Services, Fire Services Training, and the Regional Fire Protection Services and has two distinct divisions:
Fire Prevention Division – is active in providing a variety of Fire Protection services including fire inspections for licensed care facilities, plan review of schools, data collection, analysis, licensing and certification of the fire sprinkler, fireworks, and cigarette industries to both public and private sectors.
Fire Training Division – is located on a 51-acre complex east of North Bend, where Washington State fire service members are trained and certified to national standards and skills.
Burn buildings allow for controlled repetitive live-fire training for a wide range of local, state, and national fire fighting and first response organizations. “The work our State Fire Marshal, as well as the Academy Commander and his fine staff in North Bend have done is impressive,” shared WSP Chief John R. Batiste. “In addition to the current six-story burn tower, the new buildings will give our firefighters from across the state the ability to train in scenarios that might help them in home and apartment fires as well as office and other business settings. You add that to the other training resources such as shipping and roadside scenarios, and our facility is one of the premier training locations in the country. These new training resources will save lives in Washington. No doubt about it!”
Directions: The Fire Training Academy is located in a remote location about five miles off I-90 east of North Bend. The trip normally takes between 45 minutes to an hour from Seattle. The address is 50810 Grouse Ridge Road and can be found by taking I-90 E to SE Homestead Valley Rd. Take exit 38 from I-90 E. Turn Right onto SE Homestead Valley Rd. After 3.7 miles, SE Homestead Valley Rd turns slight right and becomes Grouse Ridge Road.
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Original release sent by: Chris Loftis, Communications Director for Government and Media Relations