Grass Valley Firefighter Training Facility Could Run Out Of Water
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) — A fire training facility in Grass Valley is keeping an eye on the amount of water it uses to train firefighters.
The public safety training facility for the Grass Valley Fire Department runs completely off of rainwater.
"Certainly now with the drought, it's paramount," said Chief Mark Buttron. "Anything that we can do to prolong the water that we have into the tanks."
Every time it rains, the two 18,000-gallon storage tanks fill up. But the drought has dwindled their supply to about half. With a dry summer projected, the facility runs the risk of running out.
If that happens, firefighters will have to resort to training for a possible devastating fire season without water. That means no preparation for the power of a fire hose that pumps out 150 gallons of water a minute that could knock a firefighter off their feet.
Buttron says the facility's smart design does help them reuse some of the water.
"This whole training facility slopes to a certain degree off to my left. and in doing so any water use gets directed back into a couple of drain inlets and filters back into the system," he said.
But if the rains don't come, fire training could change.
"They are still going to get their training," he said. "We can't abandon that. cause if we abandon that, our skill set goes down and we can't afford to let that happen."
