Submitted
The Dane G. Hansen Foundation has awarded the City of Hays $272,000 in grant funding for the construction of a Fire/Rescue Training Facility.
In 2016, the City of Hays Fire Department began to develop a training area behind the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Highway 40 Bypass.
The 2018 City of Hays Budget includes funding to extend utilities and continue site improvement. The Dane G. Hansen grant funds will enable the city to develop a more robust training facility in a much shorter timeframe than what would be possible with city funds alone.
The City of Hays Fire Department intends to operate the training facility in a cooperative partnership with the Ellis County Fire Department to better serve the region.
The Hays Regional Fire/Rescue Training Facility will include a concrete pad, a three-story drill tower, a live-burn building, a classroom building and a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) maze.
The training facility, once constructed, will be available for use by all fire departments and law enforcement agencies in the region. The Hays Regional Fire/Rescue Training Facility will have the ability to host larger regional trainings presented by the Kansas Fire and Rescue Training Institute and the Kansas State Firefighters Association. Currently, this type of training is costly to bring to Northwest Kansas.
Several letters of support were given from area fire departments stating the need for such a facility in Northwest Kansas.
“This facility will provide the City of Hays Fire Department, Ellis County Fire Department and entire region with the ability to develop the knowledge and skills needed to better protect our communities,” said Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Hagans. “We look forward to the development of this facility and the training that we will be able to provide and take part in.“
The City of Hays would like to thank the Dane G. Hansen Foundation for its support of this project. Without the generosity of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation this project would not be possible, the city said in its news release.