Training facility discussed

The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners held a public information meeting on July 20 to discuss a proposed Safety Training Facility. The facility would be located on what is known as the Armentrout Property, which is on the south side of the Alleghany Fairgrounds. The facility would be used as a training area for local emergency responders and is to include a burn tower, a flashover training area, a propane fire training area and a large driving pad with an area specified for vehicle extraction training.

According to data supplied by County Manager Don Adams, the total project budget is $728,776, including a 10 percent contingency. Of that amount, the county will pay $125,000, while the county is asking the United States Department of Agriculture for a $190,000 grant and a $363,776 loan toward the project cost.

The county also plans to perform $50,000 in work to the former Armentrout house, which will be used for classroom work when training for emergency personnel is held there. Another part of the plan is securing a six-inch water line from the fairgrounds to the site. The town currently has a well on the fairgrounds property that supplies both the fairgrounds and some town residents with water. The well will no longer be used by the town when a new water supply from New River becomes available next year, Adams said. The water from the former town well can then be used by the county for the training facility.