A large regional fire and police training facility planned on a site between Conway and Stanwood could fill a regional need for nearby space to train and is expected to attract public safety personnel from across the Northwest all year long.
“There’s nowhere really to train around here,” John Cermak, the North County Regional Fire Authority fire chief told the Stanwood Camano News.
Cermak walked last week among prickly brambles and salmonberry bushes into an open field, but what he saw was an opportunity to save lives. A portion of a 33-acre site will soon become the center of a training facility with classrooms, prop buildings and a variety of street layouts. Construction should start this fall and be complete a year later.
“We think of this as our ‘Field of Dreams,’” he said. “If we build it, they will come.”