<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4SZjtf_1GqascEg00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4SZjtf_1GqascEg00" width="1000" height="750" ><figcaption>Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson and City Council President Isak Nti Asare uncouple a hose line Nov. 6, 2026, in Bloomington. The Bloomington Fire Department opened their new logistics and training facility. Photo by Gareth Reis / The Indiana Daily Student</figcaption></figure>The Bloomington Fire Department officially opened a new logistics and training facility Friday during a ribbon cutting ceremony. The new facility is located at 3182 S. Walnut St.The new building, named the Operations Center, began construction in early 2025, according to B Square Bulletin. It was completed at a total cost of about $9 million, BFD Fire Chief Roger Kerr said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student.This is the first new building the BFD has opened for itself in 25 years, Kerr said. He added that previously, whenever the operations and training divisions had to help each other out, they shuttled back and forth between their separate and distant facilities.“It’s pretty exciting to stand here in a building that’s just for the fire department,” Kerr said.The primary functions of the Operations Center are to house the logistics and training divisions, including BFD’s reserve apparatus and recruit academy.LogisticsBFD Deputy Chief Max Litwin wrote in an email to the IDS that BFD has a “large supply” of spare vehicles and other spare equipment, all of which the new building will be able to house under one roof.Kerr said if any vehicle ever needs maintenance, there is a maintenance bay inside with a jack so that fleet services can lift and access the vehicle easily without the rigs having to go to the shop.The administrative part of the building, complete with offices and classrooms, is separated from the garage by an airlock to avoid contamination from diesel exhaust and other carcinogenic dust that sticks onto the gear. Both the garage and administrative area have high-tech air scrubbers that detect bad air quality and clean contaminated air to make it safe to breathe.TrainingThe Operations Center is located near the BFD’s existing training facility, a situation which Litwin wrote “will create a significantly more efficient training operation.”The Operations Center houses large rooms where classroom-based training can take place, with one dedicated to the recruit academy and the other to crew training. The size and setup of the crew training room allows the BFD to run two concurrent training sessions independent of each other.Recruit classes could also be interrupted by an alarm created by the training division as a simulation, which is a new feature, according to Litwin.The recruit classroom is connected directly to the garage, and all the necessary equipment is already on site, making simulation training quick and efficient.“You could be eating, you could be training, you could be showering, and your tones go off, you gotta go,” Litwin said in an interview with the IDS. "Through the three months of the academy, we can get them kind of killing that, and when they hit the station, they are used to it."Kenny Hinkle, captain of BFD’s training division, said the recruit room is where recruits learn the on-paper stuff, like firefighting and rescue tactics.He also said that since academy classes can sometimes run a bit over time, having the extra space for on-shift crew training allows the academy classes to take as much time as they need without cutting into on-shift training.“You want to make sure and balance both schedules because you have a demand for both,” Hinkle said.During a nearly five-hour long meeting Wednesday, the Bloomington City Council voted on artificial superintelligence use, amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance and issuance of Bloomington general obligation bonds.Additional capabilitiesThe Operations Center will also be able to serve as an additional, fully operational fire station, with a dispatch system and living quarters, in case one of the five main fire stations goes offline.If that need ever arises, Litwin said that the crew that ends up being displaced would most likely be sent to the Operations Center.Litwin also wrote that the dispatch system gives the Operations Center the ability to become an “emergency operations center” in the event of a large-scale incident, from which there would be centralized incident management.Mayor Kerry Thomson said during the Friday press conference that opening a new facility was the city's way of thanking the BFD.“Our firefighters show up for Bloomington every day; our responsibility as a city is to show up for them as well,” Thomson said. “This building may not be where most citizens see the action, but the work that happens here makes a difference in our ability every time they have to answer a call.”Thomson said during the press conference that the Bloomington Police Department's "turn is next" for a new building, adding that BPD also deserves a “great place” for their department.As for the BFD, they’ve already started to make themselves at home in their new building.BFD Fire Logistics Officer Josh Blackwell added his old fire extinguisher that he said he got off Facebook Marketplace to a corner in his office, making sure it was visible from the door.Litwin said the fire department plans to line the walls in the new building with historic pictures because history and tradition are so "deeply ingrained" in the culture of the fire service.</div></body>

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The Bloomington Fire Department officially opened a new logistics and training facility Friday during a ribbon cutting ceremony. The new facility is located at 3182 S. Walnut St. The new building, named the Operations Center, began construction in early 2025, according to B Square Bulletin. It was completed at a...

Bloomington Fire Department opens new logistics and training facility

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The Bloomington Fire Department officially opened a new logistics and training facility Friday during a ribbon cutting ceremony. The new facility is locate

Bloomington Fire Department opens new logistics and training facility

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