North Branford Fire Department (NBFD) will dedicate its new training facility on Saturday, November 19, at 10 a.m. during a public event.

The dedication will include a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by tours of the training facility for the public. The department will also display three new apparatus recently approved by Board of Fire Commissioners and Town Council: Rescue 1, Rescue 2 and Tanker 3.  The training facility is located at 290 Forest Road behind Public Works building; accessible from Forest Road driveways). The event will take place rain or shine.

North Branford's brand new, state-of-the-art, pre-engineered, steel constructed training facility consists of a two-and-a-half story burn building and attached three-story training tower. It was built for $370,000 as part of a town bonding project.

According to North Branford Fire Chief William Seward III, the town appropriated $20,000 a few years ago to initiate plans to facilitate the project; and additional $350,000 was approved by the Town Council in a road bonding package in fiscal year 2015-16.

The cost of the construction was kept within budget by having department staff acting as the general contractor, purchase the building materials, bid the assembly and maintain a constant presence on-site that proved to be beneficial to the overall management and administration for this endeavor, said Seward.

The topic of developing a formal training facility came to light following the 2014 Insurance Services Office evaluation of community fire protection. Presently, North Branford is assigned an ISO Rating of 4/4Y. The evaluation demonstrated a loss of valuable points in the areas of emergency communications dispatching and training. The highest rating a community can achieve is a Class 1. These ratings effect the fire insurance costs borne by commercial and residential property owners. It is a goal of NBFD to improve its rating by increasing the frequency and content of training delivered to its 129-member professional volunteer firefighting force by using this new facility.

Chief Seward stated that, as, "...the State of Connecticut continues to make budgetary reductions to regional fire schools, this has a dramatic long-term effect on many departments and ultimately drives us to devise cost-effective training concepts. Hence, North Branford has joined the list of suburban and rural fire departments in Connecticut that have sought funding to erect their own facilities. Farmington and Killingworth have done similar projects with great success."

Chief Seward said having formal training site in town permits North Branford fire and EMS assets to remain available for response, improve the morale of membership, diversify the training program, share resources with mutual aid partnerships and, most importantly, elevate the level of competence within the department.

Last year, NBFD responded to 1,958 alarms; and the demand for service continues to increase.

"We are an all-hazards fire department, delivering rapid and effective services to our community," said Seward. "We support our neighbors and they continue to support us. Mutual aid cooperation is necessary based upon the state and federal laws, regulations and standards by which the fire service must operate today."