After years of delays, Lone Star College-Kingwood’s fire training facility is now expected to be finished in 2027, college system leaders announced Sept. 3.
In case you missed it
The fire training facility was designed as a space for LSC fire science students to train to become firefighters, Executive Vice Chancellor of Operations Bridgett Johnson said during LSC trustees’ regular Sept. 3 board meeting.
As previously reported by Community Impact, the 2,000-square-foot facility will:
House equipment needed for firefighting exercises
Feature training areas to simulate burning buildings, car fires and chemical emergencies
How we got here
A groundbreaking was held for the fire training facility in February 2022, and the project was originally expected to be completed by August 2023, as previously reported.
“This project has taken an extraordinary, unexpectedly long period of time to the point where some of the fire departments in the service area, when they see me, they approach me about it, and they're visibly frustrated,” said LSC Chair Mike Sullivan, who serves District 8, which covers Kingwood and Atascocita.
The project has been in progress since 2019 but has faced delays due to lapsed permits, employee turnover and a lack of centralized records, Johnson said. However, the project is back on track and the procurement phase began in late August, she added.
“We had some lessons learned there that we're going to make sure that we monitor all of those things very closely,” Johnson said.
Stay tuned
Johnson said after project procurement, the next steps will be to:
Once construction begins, the project is expected to take one year, Johnson said.
The fire training facility will be located at 20000 Kingwood Drive, Kingwood.
Reporter Wesley Gardner contributed to this report.
