First Firefighter Training Center Under Construction in Grand Rapids, MI

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Grand Rapids is getting its first dedicated firefighter training facility that officials say will provide realistic, hands-on training to ensure firefighters in the region are prepared to respond to an emergency.

The new $46 million Grand Rapids Fire Department Training Center, 850 Pannell Road NW, is officially under construction after city officials broke ground at the site Thursday, Aug. 28.

Set to be completed in spring 2027, the planned 97,875-square-foot facility will consolidate training and fire operations onto a single campus, including the fire department’s live fire training, maintenance shop and emergency operations center, which are all currently spread out across the city.

Fire Chief Brad Brown said the new facility will expand training opportunities and create a talent pipeline, allowing Grand Rapids to create regional training partnerships.

“We’re looking at a regional partnership where we can train Kent County firefighters and work with Grand Rapids Community College, and potentially other local universities, to get college credit for that training,” he said.

The new facility is more than a decade in the making and took a mix of local, state and federal funding, Brown said.

The state allocated $15 million in its 2023 budget to fund the construction of a fire training and operations center, and the U.S. Department of Commerce supplied a $1.5 million grant for the new facility.

Brown said the new facility will have training classrooms, maintenance areas and a five-story exterior burn building.

The fire department previously conducted most of its training in leased space at the city water department building, 1101 Monroe Ave. NW, supplemented by a live fire facility on Butterworth Street. Brown said the previous set-up was inefficient because it took most of the day to go out to the Butterworth site, set up the homemade burn building and conduct the training.

With the riverfront site now slated for redevelopment, the department began searching for a new home. In 2023, the city purchased 9.37 acres at the Pannell Road location for $1.925 million.

While the new training facility is under construction, the fire department is currently renting out a former elementary school on the northeast side of the city as a temporary training space.

As Grand Rapids is at a moment of growth ― with a new amphitheater and soccer stadium under construction ― Mayor David LaGrand said the new fire training facility will allow the city’s fire department to grow along with it.

LaGrand said Grand Rapids already has the best fire department in the state, but that this new facility will bring it to a new level of excellence.

“This is our ability to take an excellent group and an excellent team and an excellent operation, and level it up,” he said. “We are, for the moment, the second city of Michigan, but we are the biggest thriving city in the state of Michigan, and we are at a leveling-up moment. This fire station is part of Grand Rapids leveling up.”

Clark Construction is building the new training center, which was designed by Williams Architects in partnership with Pure Architects.

Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony was attended by city and state leaders, including City Commissioners Marshall Kilgore and AliciaMarie Belchak, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, Sen. Mark Huizenga and state Rep. Carol Glanville.