Progress is being made on the new firefighter training facility in Freeport

Decorah Fire Department members are hoping the new firefighter training facility they are building will be fully operational next spring.

"We have a lot of stuff (already) in place," says Decorah Fire Chief Mike Ashbacher.  The fire department has already raised $125,000 in donations to help pay for the facility and has done three test burns.

In addition to a three-story structure for house fire training, the training facility will include a hunter's tree stand, a trench structure and more.  The biggest remaining project at this point is the creation of a grain bin fire training structure.  The fire department will use two grain bins—one for the outer shell and the other, a real-size grain bin, for the fires to be set.  "We'll make it as realistic as we can," says Ashbacher.  However, the two grain bins are not yet on site.

The Decorah Volunteer Fire Department will manage the training facility and make it available to firefighters from other department in Winneshiek County and nearby counties operating under mutual aid agreements with Decorah.