This fall, the city of Las Vegas Fire Department and the College of Southern Nevada will open the doors to a new joint fire station and classroom facility.
The 15,400-square-foot building is located on the southwest corner of the campus and will house Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Station No. 6, as well as 4,600 square feet for three state-of-the-art classrooms for CSN students.
“This is a great partnership that will combine state and local resources to efficiently generate services for Southern Nevada residents and provide much needed space for CSN,” said CSN President Michael Richards. “College enrollment has grown 15% over the last three years and our square-footage-per-student ratio is the lowest in the state, so the classroom space could not come at a better time.”
The city of Las Vegas is funding the construction of the $7 million facility on CSN’s largest campus. The brainchild of City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, the building maximizes the use of public dollars, allowing the city to use the state’s land to provide premium public safety services to the area and maintain rapid response times to neighborhood calls. At the same time, the college will obtain additional teaching space during an economic downturn, when the state of Nevada is unlikely to invest in any new buildings to support a growing number of residents seeking post-secondary education.
Nevada’s largest higher-education institution, CSN enrolls more than 43,000 students in more than 120 fields of study, including fire-science technology and emergency medical services. The classrooms will be used for general education courses in addition to classes related to EMT and fire training.
Located across from Bonanza High School, the fire station also will provide learning opportunities to interested high-school students. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, Clark County School District and CSN officials are reviewing learning opportunities for high school students interested in the fire service. The fire station and instructional center will also house a reserve engine, in which both high school and college students will have the ability to have hands on interaction with the unit.
A focal piece of the building will be a glass wall located in the lobby that will provide viewing into the fully functional, four-bay fire station and allow students to observe firefighters and emergency medical technicians in action. Inside the lobby, there will also be educational displays about the history of the fire service for students and community members’ enjoyment.
Not only is the fire station needed to serve the citizens in the area but Las Vegas Fire Chief Greg Gammon said he sees the next generation of firefighters in Las Vegas as being prepared better than ever for the challenges of a career in the fire service by this unique learning opportunity.
Source: firechief.com
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