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91���� and the City of Tulsa broke ground for a new Tulsa Fire Department Safety Training Center to replace the city’s current training facility built in 1952.

The facility will be located on the 91���� Northeast Campus at 2819 N. New Haven Avenue.

91���� President Tom McKeon said the facility will help expand opportunities for students working toward a fire safety associate degree from the college.

“Those in the program will have the opportunity to train in a state-of-the-art facility and the Safety Training Center will allow us to help better prepare a student for a career in the fire service,” said McKeon.

91���� invested roughly $2.2 million in buying the land at the site.

Money from the 2005 General Obligation Bond Issue will fund construction of the first phase.Crews will begin construction work in April with completion scheduled for November 2014 for the high-tech training center.

"We will be able to create bedroom fires, kitchen fires and collapsing floors. In the kitchen fire, if the water is put in the wrong place, we will be able to control the environment. There a lot of things we can't replicate in training that firefighters experience in the field. Now, we will be able to do that in our training center," said Tulsa Fire Chief Ray Driskell.

The $13.2 million project will include an actual fire station, where cadets and students can train in a building exactly like where they will work as firefighters. The Safety Training Center also will include outdoor classroom areas, apparatus storage and a 6-story drill tower. Another feature will be a stormwater detention pond for water rescue training.

This partnership and this new facility will increase training capabilities and educational opportunities at a reduced cost through shared resources.