A new mobile training unit could be on the way for Windsor-Essex firefighters.
The Mobile Live Fire Training Unit would be split between Windsor and fire departments in Amherstburg, LaSalle and the St. Clair College training program at a shared cost of $380,000.
A report goes before city council Tuesday before other municipalities green light the purchase.
Windsor Fire and Rescue Chief Steve Laforet says the training unit was brought up in a report as a goal recently.
"It's an opportunity to have some greater efficiencies in the county. It's not something that we would use everyday in the city, so to be able to share the cost and to share the unit just makes sense," says Laforet. "For our recruit classes we typically send them over to Oakland Community College and we do a day of live fire training there. We don't have set availability right now. To train our entire staff over there is quite costly to send people away and you have to backfill their positions here, which generates a greater expense."
The opportunity to purchase a refurbished unit from Draeger Canada presented itself, and Laforet says the price is right.
Laforet told AM800 News the 53 ft, mobile unit expands upward and outward — It will be a useful tool for stakeholders, and any other municipalities that wish to get on board with the project.
Laforet says the unit should be ready for the fall if every council involed approves the purchase.