York County fire officials preparing for move to new training center

After a year of work, York County fire officials are preparing to move into the new fire training center.

Crews broke ground at the site on McFarland Road south of York in January, when it was little more than a muddy field.

Now, the county Fire Safety Department is a few days away from leaving its current headquarters on Ogden Road – a facility the county rents from the city of Rock Hill – and occupying a new campus that includes a 12,000-square-foot training building and a 10,000-square-foot maintenance shop.

The building passed its code inspection earlier this week, and after a few final adjustments, the fire officials hope to start moving in Jan. 4.

“All the main safety systems, the fire alarms and sprinklers, are all in good shape,” said Chris Whitley, project manager with Cumming Construction Management, which has overseen work on the training center for much of the past year. “I expect move in will happen the first week in January.”

County Fire Director Billy Weatherford said his office will start moving their office furniture to the new training center that week, if the weather allows crews to put in the final touches in time.

“Hopefully, we get some dry days soon,” Weatherford said. “We’ll keep working out of here in the meantime.”

The new facility was approved by York County Council in 2014. The $4.9 million facility has more space and equipment for rehabbing fire engines and holding required training classes.

The new training center has:

• Three classrooms, with the option of opening folding walls to create one large room capable of holding more than 100 people

• Two separate training towers

• Four fire bays to house engines for maintenance or fabrication needs

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "York County fire officials preparing for move to new training center."