Bob Foos
The Webb City Fire Department on Tuesday showed off its new fire academy training center Tuesday – built proudly by the firefighters themselves with help from other city departments and the community.
Deputy Chief Jeremy Denton said the red stack of shipping containers on the south side of the department is a “symbol of safety, preparedness and commitment to our community.”
Chief Andrew Roughton thanked the Joplin Fire Department for previously training Webb City’s new firefighters, but a surge in new hires made scheduling classes away from the department unworkable.
Denton achieved state approval for the department to offer the academy and began teaching in January. The first class included five Webb City firefighters (including a high school intern) and a firefighter each from Carl Junction and Carthage. Denton noted during the ceremony Tuesday that that the class finished with a 100% passing.
Public works created the base and the shipping containers were arranged in February. That’s when Denton said the ideas began flowing about features inside to build to create actual firefighting situations.
Roughton gave Denton and battalion chiefs Chris Burrow, Scott Pink and Cody Stone the task of getting the training center built with the $45,000 budgeted for the project by City Administrator Carl Francis.
If not for the driving force of the battalion chiefs with their leadership and countless after-shift hours, Denton said the center wouldn’t have been possible.
It was Chance Wills, the department’s former lieutenant who died 10 years ago, who championed the idea of building a training center with shipping containers.
“Training was his (Wills’) thing,” said Roughton. “He would be ecstatic” to see the training facility completed.
In fact, the center is dedicated to Wills. His saying, “Where there’s a wills there’s a chance,” has become the department’s motto.
A sign hung from the top of the center includes DVFD (Duquesne Volunteer Fire Department), the department Wills first worked at, and CJFD (Carl Junction Fire Department), the last department he worked at.
Wills’ wife, Amy, and their children, Landon and Ava, cut the ribbon for the facility.
There’s a picture of Wills inside the opening of the center, which resembles the front door of a residential house. The house number is Wills’ department number.
Roughton recalled his early days of teaching firefighting and emergency medical technician courses in a living room where they pretended to be in real situations.
He said the center is important because “when our firefighters are trained the entire city is safe – lives and property are protected.”
