New firefighter, police training facilities to be built in Scottsdale

PHOENIX – First responders in Scottsdale will soon have new facilities to train at after the city hired architects to design planned upgrades.

Following a voter-approved bond in 2019, the training facility is in-line to receive major upgrades. In late August, the Scottsdale City Council approved architectural services for $220,075.

Construction could happen as soon as January 2021.

Fucello Architects has provided conceptual design services for projects that will replace, modernize and expand the fire and police facilities within the Tom Hontz Training Facility in north Tempe.

The architectural approval will begin design work on three improvement projects including building a new fire department training academy facility, modernizing the police training facilities, and replacing a deteriorating vehicle training track at the police and fire training facility.

The training facility projects are a portion of the three-part approved bond question from 2019. The estimated costs of each project are:

• Replace the deteriorating vehicle training track at the Police and Fire Training Facility: $1,919,401
• Modernize and expand the Police and Fire Training Facility: $4,227,262
• Build a new Fire Department Training Facility: $18,258,520.

The upgrades are coming at the right time, especially for the fire department.

“In 2025, on July 1st – 143 of our 277 sworn members all are eligible to retire on the same day,” Scottsdale Fire Chief Tom Shannon told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Shannon believes the facility will provide training for new recruits, incumbent firefighters and the development of the nearly 50 captains, 50 engineers, 80 paramedics, and dozens of specialty skilled personnel who provide technical rescue, hazmat response, airport rescue firefighting and homeland defense services.

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