City Commission approves $1.3 million GFFR training center; firefighters train with partners, private buildings
City Commissioners unanimously approved a contract for design and construction during their June 16 meeting for Great Falls Fire Rescue’s new live fire training building.
The city contracted with WHP Training Towers for a $1,300,945.02 facility that will “enhance firefighter training, improve operational readiness and allow the department to conduct realistic, code-compliant training locally,” according to the staff report.
The facility will replace the former tower and training building, both of which were demolished last year at the GFFR facility at 1900 9th St. S.
GFFR training rookie, fourth female firefighter; working on training center upgrades [2025]
WHP has specialized expertise, proprietary design methods, and demonstrated experience in constructing NFPA-Certified live fire training facilities, according to the city. The company uses shipping containers as the basic building block to customize configurations.
The city developed the proposal through its membership in Sourcewell, a governmental
purchasing service cooperative based in Minnesota, that it has used for other purchases in recent years.
GFFR responds to two fires within 24 hours
In April 2025, commissioners voted 4-1 to apply for a $2.5 million Montana Board of Investments intercap loan to finance GFFR’s training center renovations.
City staff applied for the state loan for up to $2.5 million and are using the 3.5 mills that were redirected from the Great Falls Public Library to the city’s general fund through a renegotiation of the library’s management agreement in 2024.
Library board approves new management agreement with city [2024]
The loan was approved in June.
During the June 16 meeting, GFFR Chief Jeremy Virts said city departments have collaborated and that public works had been instrumental in the project that’s “been a long time coming.”
The training center was used “vigorously” over the years and that causes wear and tear, he said.
“If we’re not responding to an emergency, we’re training for an emergency,” Virts said.
GFFR responds to two structure fires this week; numbers on par with 2024 [2025]
City Manager Greg Doyon said that “this is a long time coming,” and the lack of training center facilities had been a long-term gap.
On behalf of several former GFFR chiefs, Doyon thanked the commission.
While awaiting the new facility, GFFR got creative using city-owned facilities and partnering with property owners train in vacant or soon-to-be-demolished structures.
This week, they’re training in the former Big Sky Quilts building, on the corner of Central Avenue and Park Drive downtown.
The building is unoccupied and listed for sale by the owners, who also own KellerGeist next door.
GFFR training tower demo scheduled this week; work continuing to improve training center [2025]
Last year, GFFR purchased a smaller training prop that they can use at the training center or haul into fire stations for training over the winter.
The mobile training prop was $59,850 and the GFFR Foundation purchased the trailer to move it between fire stations and other training locations for about $12,000.
The former five-story training tower was condemned and largely unusable since the spring of 2020 and in November 2024, the two remaining roof props also failed. The blue general training building had limited uses without electricity or heat.
Only the classroom building remains at the GFFR training center.
Nate Schmidt, GFFR assistant chief, told The Electric in October that the Park Manor downtown, across from the Civic Center, had been great in allowing GFFR to use the building for high-rise training and the city’s Park and Recreation Department had offered the Multisports parking lot for driver training.
GFFR responds to 22nd structure fire of the year; no injuries reported
He said area residents may see more activity and requests from GFFR to use yards and structures around town for training while the training center is under construction.
“We can’t stop training,” he said in October.
GFFR’s next rookie training academy began June 22.
Schmidt said they’ve partnered with the Malmstrom Fire Department, which has a 4-story training facility from the same company, WHP, to conduct the bulk of their training on base.
Schmidt says the details aren’t finalized but they anticipate joint training and other regional agencies using the GFFR training facility in the future.
Last week, Schmidt took The Electric to the training center site, which has been leveled and laid out as a city street grid, with hydrants on corners.
The former blue building, which was used for a variety of training exercises, including mayday, search and rescue, hose lines and was connected to a shipping container rigged for live burn training, was demolished last winter.
The burn cell remains on site for now and will be used until the new training structure is completed, and perhaps after that, Schmidt said.
City public works crews are installing utility lines and will pave the street grid later this year.
The new four-story training facility will be installed on one block, closest to 9th Street South. The next block will be left as green space for future potential expansion.
City Commission votes 4-1 to apply for $2.5 million loan to fund GFFR training center [2025]
The new structure includes technical rescue training opportunities with an anchor stanchion on the roof of the four-story portion and an interior confined space for technical rescue training. Schmidt said underground tubes aren’t common in the city, but they sometimes respond to incidents involving manholes and confined spaces at the refinery.
The new facility includes a smoke tower similar to updated multifamily and downtown buildings in Great Falls, Schmidt said, with an isolated stairwell and water line connections.
The first level of the facility will be designed as a residential structure with a couple of burn rooms so the training scenarios are variable, whereas before, firefighters were training in the same spaces.
The second floor is designed to resemble row-style, multifamily residential structures in Great Falls, with two burn rooms.
City continuing discussion of funding for GFFR training center, which is currently unusable [2025]
The third floor will be pretty open with no burn rooms, but will allow firefighters to train on connecting and running hose lines.
The whole facility includes windows and balconies for firefighters to train on ladder entries, as well as a roof prop for ventilation training. It’s a roof structure with 17-18 foot gutter lines, which are common in Great Falls, Schmidt said.
GFFR engines have 24-foot ladders so crews can practice getting on roofs to check for fire and ventilate when needed. The roof structure includes space for plywood panels to be inserted and replaced as firefighters learn and train various cuts.
One side of the roof is flatter, the other more pitched to resemble what firefighters will encounter in Great Falls.
The facility will be equipped with a clean smoke generator, Schmidt said, that can direct smoke into certain areas or the entire facility, depending on the training scenario.
It also has a garage door on the first level and they can put a car in there to simulate clearing obstacles with hoses, he said. They will not burn cars in the garage.
On the south end of the site, the fence line will be relocated, and two ponds will be developed — a detention pond for water runoff and a drafting pond, which will allow firefighters to rehearse sucking water into their hoses.
GFFR’s engines carry 500 to 2,200 gallons of water, depending on the type of apparatus. They can all deliver onboard water and connect to hydrants, but there are no hydrants in some areas outside the city limits that GFFR responds to, Schmidt said. They can suck water from the river, cisterns, swimming pools and the drafting pond will allow more training for those situations.
A reinforced concrete pad will be used for vehicle extrication and ground fire training. The pad, as part of an in-kind contribution from Calumet, will also include a burn cell with a control module and propane tank. Schmidt said that will allow them to train without smoke or contaminants and stay cleaner, which is safer and healthier for firefighters.
The railcar prop donated remains on the site.
GFFR receives railcar training prop donation; fire foundation seeking new board members [2024]
The current timeline for the facility is:
- July 15: conceptual drawings
- mid-July: water line completed and building permits submitted, with tentative approval by the end of August
- September: stormwater pond and paving completed
- April 2027: new training facility delivered
- June 2027: new training facility installed and completed for training to begin during the summer
GFFR chief: Lack of fire training facility risks readiness, safety, increased insurance rates
The lack of a training center could cause the city’s ISO rating to drop, GFFR officials have said in recent years.
A drop in ISO rating could affect residential and commercial insurance rates.
City approves contract change for fire station improvements [2024]
GFFR continues responding to real emergencies as they await their new training center, including a structure fire on June 18 at 308 29th Ave. N.E.
Police officers arrived first and confirmed all occupants had evacuated the house.
The attached garage was fully engulfed with fire getting into the attic space.
Firefighters had the fire under control within 15 minutes of their arrival, according to GFFR.
GFFR determined that the fire was started by the spontaneous combustion of wet grass clippings and advised residents that, while rare, wet grass clippings can generate heat as they decompose and potentially cause a fire. Residents are encouraged to allow grass clippings to dry before piling, bagging, or disposing of them whenever possible.
The fire was the 47th of the year, with the following breakdown from GFFR response data as of June 18, provided by GFFR Fire Marshal Mike McIntosh:
- 7 outside fires
- 1 outside tank fire
- 7 outside trash/rubbish fires
- 6 outside vegetation/grass fires
- 1 outside utility infrastructure fire
- 2 dumpster/other outdoor container fires
- 9 structural involvement
- 8 room and contents fires
- 1 confined cooking/appliance fire
- 4 passenger vehicle fires
- 1 RV fire
GFFR has also responded to 209 hazardous situations, which ranged from gas leaks, downed power lines, vehicle collisions and one bomb threat/suspicious package.
So far this year, GFFR has responded to 1,765 medical calls; 553 public service calls; 14 law enforcement support calls; and 11 rescue calls, which include confined spaces, extrication, elevator/escalators and water/river rescues.
They’ve also responded to 533 no-emergency calls, which included 16 intentional false alarms, 32 malfunctioning alarms and 67 accidental alarms plus six calls about controlled burns.
