Local and area officials gathered last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new joint fire training center for the Flower Mound, Highland Village and Lewisville fire departments to share.
The Flower Mound Fire Department began discussions with the Lewisville Fire Department in 2019 about a partnership to rebuild the Lewisville Fire Training Center, which is no longer usable. Highland Village soon joined the discussion, and they came to an Interlocal Agreement to build and maintain a $6.9 million facility on the same property of the current Lewisville facility, and FMFD and HVFD will be allowed to use it.
The future facility includes access to a drill tower and classrooms to effectively prepare for an “all hazards” approach to emergency response including but not limited to fire, disaster management, technical rescue, as well as complex medical scenarios. Currently, FMFD pays to use other training centers that are farther away and must schedule training dates up to a year in advance. Other departments in the region are also using joint training centers to share the costs.
All three town/city councils approved the agreement in 2021. The 20-year agreement states that Lewisville owns the facility, but the Flower Mound and Highland Village FDs are allowed to use it. The costs for each municipality are based on the percentage of Texas Commission on Fire Protection firefighters on staff: Lewisville is responsible for 51.6% of the costs, Flower Mound is responsible for 40.6%, and Highland Village has 7.8%.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Jan. 10 at 701 Treatment Plant Road in Lewisville. Core Construction will build two separate structures — a three-and-a-half story commercial building with open decking on the roof that will simulate commercial and multi-family fire scenarios, and a two-story residential property to simulate residential fire scenarios, according to a spokesman for the city of Lewisville. Both of the new structures will be propane fueled gas fired props and can be used for Class A fire training. The current fire tower on the property will still be used, but not for live fire exercises or training.
Construction began immediately and, weather permitting, construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The entire training grounds will be named the John Ashman Fire Training Complex. Ashman joined LFD in 1983, became Division Chief of Training in 2016 and served in that role until his death in May 2023.
