New Lavonia Fire Training Center Nears Completion

A new training center for the Lavonia Volunteer Fire Department is nearing completion.

The training center is going in behind the Lavonia Cultural Center. At this month’s Lavonia City Council meeting, City Manager Gary Fesperman said work is moving forward.

Fesperman said the City will also be working on getting a water and sewer line run across the street to the new center.

Lavonia Fire Chief Scott O’Barr came before the City Council in April to request permission to build the new training center.

The training center will consist of three cargo containers stacked one on top of the other.  Those boxes would be fitted inside so firefighters could simulate house fires for training.

There will also be a giant water tank and pump underground so firefighters can do pump tests on the fire engines.

Councilman Eddie Floyd recently retired from the Lavonia Fire Department.

At a work session in April, Floyd said a local training center for firefighters is needed because right now, fire trucks have to be taken to Hartwell for the pump test – a process that is time consuming and inconvenient.

“They take a whole day,” he said. “Whoever is doing it is missing a whole day of pay. They have to drive to Hartwell to do it. It’s a daylong thing. They’re missing their work and they’re not getting paid to do it.”

The pump well is similar to large septic tank that would be in the ground at the new facility site.  Floyd said the training center will also save the City money by having the certification training done in the town

“It isn’t so much as them getting their certification, it’s the continuing education and having a training center here that we can maintain the level of firefighters that we have at the moment, which is pretty awesome,” Floyd pointed out.

Mayor Ralph Owens also noted having a fire training center in town would lower the ISO rating for Lavonia and its homeowners.