This facility received a Training Facilities Gold Award in Firehouse's 2019 Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
As a state-of-the-art facility, the Round Rock Public Safety Training Center has undergone extensive usage during the short time it has been open. The nearly 100,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor multipurpose center, located in an industrial area of the city, next to the headquarters of the Round Rock Police Department, provides critical classroom instruction and training for fire and police personnel from Round Rock and numerous other municipalities. It also offers public access to community members for education sessions, social gatherings, and other events.
More than half of the facility’s space boasts tiered classrooms, an indoor tactical firing range with twelve 50-yard lanes, a dedicated defense tactics exercise area, fire and police scenario training (including Candidate Physical Ability Tests), a learning kitchen, a large break room to support evening functions, shower/ locker rooms, and offices.
Two apparatus bays and a burn village featuring a five-story burn building, a two-story burn apartment, and a two-story residential burn setting are additional highlights. The burn buildings allow for Class A and Class B burn fire-training exercises. The remaining site programs consist of a large skills pad utilized by both fire and police personnel, a fuel-spill prop, a confined-space and trench-rescue area, a police tactical village, and a shared outdoor classroom/ storage building.
The facility allows fire personnel to train with foam and water, which allows ultimate flexibility for other departments to utilize the facility. Other diverse offerings—such as an overturned train-car prop to simulate a chemical spill— allow training for low-frequency, high-risk events. Expansion plans call for a two-story fire warehouse, an emergency vehicle operations course, and a swiftwater rescue training course.
In mid-2019, the center showcased its flexibility when firefighters at Round Rock Fire Department’s Station No. 1 temporarily relocated to the facility’s fire-scenario training area following the discovery of mold at that station.
Architect/Firm Name: Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects.
