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Fire department to use 101 E. Cottage Grove Road for live training; staff to seek demolition timing and environmental review
Summary
Village staff and the Cottage Grove Fire Department presented a training plan for a village‑owned structure and asked the board for direction; staff will pursue environmental review and align training with demolition timing and communications planning.
Cottage Grove Fire Department officials presented an operational plan at the Aug. 18 meeting to use the village‑owned property at 101 E. Cottage Grove Rd. for live training exercises and firefighter skill development. The board gave staff direction to continue planning and to coordinate an environmental review and demolition bidding process.
What the department proposed: Assistant Chief Lance Severson and other department trainers described a sequence of training activities that would use the structure for search‑and‑rescue drills, firefighter survival, rapid intervention team exercises, ventilation training, ladder operations and confined‑space techniques. The department emphasized controlled, staged exercises and said it prefers to schedule roof‑cutting and other destructive exercises as the last training events before demolition or to employ alternative smoke machines for earlier training.
Staff and timing: village staff reported they had engaged a contractor to perform an environmental review, and that staff would soft‑bid demolition costs to align training time and removal so the property would not be left in a partially demolished condition for long. Fire staff indicated they could use the site for multiple monthly training sessions over a span of months and said they would try to coordinate the final destructive training with the contractor’s demolition schedule.
Communications and public‑safety considerations: board members asked staff and the department to develop a public communications plan so neighbors understand the training schedule and so the department can post signage during training events. The department offered to limit visible damage until the final sessions and to board or secure openings temporarily between training events. Board members asked that staff return with a draft agreement outlining training duration, demolition timing and neighborhood notification plans.
Next steps: staff will pursue the environmental review already underway, issue soft bids for demolition, draft a training agreement for board consideration, and prepare a communications plan for residents ahead of training sessions.
