Construction is underway at the Suffolk County Fire Academy in Yaphank on a building whose entire purpose is to burn. The county has started work on a $3 million live-fire training structure built to look and behave like a garden apartment complex, County Executive Ed Romaine announced this week.

Once finished, the building will cover 8,320 square feet across two floors, with 34 rooms in total plus a flat roof that trainers can also use. Eight of those rooms are live-burn rooms, where instructors can set and control real fires, and the structure will be accessible from all four sides so crews can practice approaches the way they would face them on a real call.

Why an apartment building

The fire academy's existing live-fire buildings focus on single-family homes and commercial designs. Multi-family housing burns differently: shared hallways, stacked units, and layouts that firefighters have to read quickly in smoke. The new structure is designed to simulate scenarios ranging from apartments and multi-family residences to industrial settings and motels, and trainers will be able to mix and match parts of the building to build countless scenarios.

Romaine said the facility will serve new recruits and seasoned fire service members alike, and framed it as an answer to how firefighting on Long Island has changed as more multi-family housing goes up across the county.

Who will train there

Volunteers from Suffolk County's 109 volunteer fire districts will be able to use the structure, so a single new building at the Yaphank academy reaches departments across the county.

The county expects construction to be complete by 2027. The county describes the project as an essential training structure that will help improve response at multi-family housing across Suffolk.

Sources