Klein Fire Station No 3. and Fire Training Facility

Harris County ESD No. 16 and the Klein Fire Department decided to build a training facility, adjacent to Klein Fire Station No. 3, to eliminate the expense of sending their firefighters to other districts for training. While saving them money in the long-term, providing a local training facility has the added benefit of keeping the firefighters in-district in case of an emergency. The Klein Fire Training Facility is located on the same 7-acre site as Klein Fire Station No. 3 and consists of a training building with an indoor classroom, two unisex bathrooms, an equipment room, storage room, two apparatus bays for reserve vehicles, an outdoor covered instructional and debrief area, and a WHP training tower. Also located on the site near the training facilities is a diesel fueling station for department vehicles and two Conex boxes to store training props and equipment. Providing both indoor and outdoor instructional areas adjacent to the training tower allows for multiple types of training sessions as well as the ability to review and debrief after a simulated burn event.

The Training Building served an important role in the phasing plan developed by the design team to keep the existing Fire Station No. 3 on its site operational throughout the construction of the new facility. The Training Building served as a temporary fire station, with an adjacent manufactured home serving as temporary living quarters, while the new Fire Station No. 3 was being built. A pre-engineered structure was utilized so that the Training Building would be more cost-effective and so that it could be constructed more quickly. Once the new station was built, the apparatus bays became storage bays for reserve vehicles and the bunker gear racks now hold dive suits.