Plans For Firefighter Training Center In Evergreen Move Forward

EVERGREEN, Colo. (CBS4)- Plans for a new training center for firefighters in Evergreen are moving forward despite many neighbors claiming they are against it.

Evergreen Fire Rescue Station No. 2 will build the four-story burn building near Bergen Parkway in north Evergreen.

Bergen Meadow Elementary is night door and homes are nearby the proposed training center.

Opposition to the project is growing with many residents complaining about the plan.

"We live in a mountain community. We moved to Evergreen because we love the atmosphere here. That is not the atmosphere for a four-story industrial, ugly, burn building that will have smoke," said Evergreen resident Gina Coco.

Tuesday night the Evergreen Fire Protection District Board of Directors voted unanimously to go ahead with the project.

"Our firefighters just need to see live fire more often and they need a larger structure for better training and more efficient training," said Evergreen Fire Rescue Chief Mike Weege.

Plans for the training facility will be finalized between now and January 2012. Construction is set to begin once those plans are finalized.