Warren County Board of Supervisors paves way for new fire and rescue training site

Blaine Keller, local businessman and adjacent property owner shares his concerns with the Board of Supervisors.

FRONT ROYAL — The Warren County Board of Supervisors on June 18 ignored local citizens’ concerns about the location of a new fire and rescue training facility, voting unanimously to approve a conditional use permit to allow construction at the site located off ESA Lane in Front Royal, VA.

“I just want to reiterate that we did not take this project lightly,” Warren County Fire Marshall Gerry Maiatico told the board and attendees. “This is a vital project. We are going to strive to be good neighbors to the surrounding properties.”

The Warren County Department of Fire and Services now will establish a live fire and practical training support building at the site, which is largely surrounded by single-family homes and trees.
Some of the residents in those nearby homes reiterated their concerns about the facility during the board’s public hearing segment of its meeting prior to voting on the conditional use permit.
Blaine Keller said the parcel isn’t the proper location for such a facility, which will be a two-story building with almost 2,200-square-feet of floor space that will include two live fire burn cells, according to the Warren County Planning Commission’s staff report.

Keller said that while the fire marshal has made a good case for the location, “this isn’t the place to build it,” he said, citing the location’s agricultural zoning.

According to the Warren County Zoning Ordinance, however, public protection facilities related to fire, police and rescue departments are an allowed use by a conditional use permit in an agricultural district.

“My biggest concern is with live fires,” said resident Kathleen Wisniewski. “What’s the guarantee that a fire won’t get out of control? It’s a heavily wooded area up there.”

And what about the smoke that people might see, asked Supervisor Linda Glavis, who represents the South River District where the facility will be built.

Maiatico said the department must follow federal guidelines for training and will be limited to the specific fuels that may be used, as well as how many times the department may conduct live fire trainings and for how long.

“The nearby woodland will serve to mask the smoke and will help dissipate it,” he added.

Mary Jones, another nearby resident, said she was “upset” about the planned facility.

“This is a residential area,” Jones said. “We are people who might be impacted because of our location and nobody informed us. I know we’ll be affected by construction, but mostly I’m concerned about the traffic.”

Jones asked the supervisors to explain how many more people would be travelling the neighborhood road while Glavis also asked about current uses of ESA Lane.

Maiatico said the department would “encourage trainees to carpool in an effort to minimize the traffic, but also “mostly for comradery” among the personnel travelling to the future training facility. He said efforts to limit siren blowing also would be made “just to be courteous” to the nearby residents.

“Obviously the fire department needs a place to practice, but in this case you have to respect the citizens,” local Paul Gabbert told the supervisors. “They have to deal with the smoke and traffic … and they shouldn’t be put through something like this. You should find another place for them to do this.”

But that’s not the way the votes fell.

The supervisors agreed with Maiatico that it’s no longer feasible for the fire department, which must provide initial training and continuing education to volunteer and career first responders, to send members to a rented Shenandoah County location because it currently lacks the ability to provide live fire trainings locally.

The additional travel time to that facility for training has become problematic for the department, Maiatico said, and takes valuable personnel out of the area, decreasing the number of first responders available locally for an emergency.

Maiatico also said the location is attractive to the fire department because there’s a roadway and water and septic already in place, “which is a significant cost-savings for taxpayers.”

The fire department already utilizes three abandoned classroom trailer facilities on the site that once belonged to the former Warren County Public School Alternative Education Facility where it has offered dedicated classroom and support space for its Warren County Department of Fire and Rescue Service Training and Continuing Education Center since 2016.

During a roll call, the board members each said “aye” after Supervisor Tom Sayre, vice chairman of the board, moved to approve the conditional use permit and Glavis seconded the motion.

The Royal Examiner’s camera was there: