FRACKVILLE --Volunteer firefighters from more than 100 fire companies in Schuylkill County are learning how to tackle the fires at a training facility in Frackville.
"It's imperative that we have the ability to ensure that our firefighters are trained," said John Matz with Schuylkill County Emergency Management.
Matz is also a former fire chief who believes it's imperative to replace the old burn building that was at the training facility in Frackville.
It had to be torn down after 25 years of wear and tear.
Now Matz is working with the county's volunteer firefighter association to build a new state-of-the-art burn building in its place.
"It's going to have the features of a row home, because that is typically the type of fires that firefighters encounter," said Matz.
Fires like the one in Shenandoah from July, shows how damaging a fire can be when it starts in one of the homes. In that June fire, it spread to 12 other homes.
Row home fires were part of the reason why county commissioners recently pledged $500,000 toward that new burn building.
The total expected cost for the new burn building is $1.6 million.
The volunteer firefighters association plans to fundraise the rest of the money.
