The Calhoun Fire Department made headway in its new training facility this past week.

The CFD recently purchased land near fire station No. 2, and are waiting for the deal to close.

According to CFD Chief Lenny Nesbitt, the closing of the property should take place within the upcoming days.

“It was supposed to have been closed last week but I haven’t seen any paperwork that it’s been finalized yet,” explained Nesbitt. “It’s in process.”

In a previous Calhoun Times article, Nesbitt explained the reasoning behind why the city needs a training facility.

“We are buying property and building a training ground with a burn building, training tower and props associated with that to potentially improve our rating from a 4 to a 3,” said Nesbitt. “If we just built the fire station it would only solidify us as a Class 4.”

This comes after the Insurance Service Office (ISO) evaluated the CFD.

In the previous article it stated, “After being reviewed by the ISO, which evaluates and rates fire departments on their firefighting capabilities and population of surrounding communities, the CFD received a Class 4 rating. This rating is based on the ISO’s Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. Fire departments are classified from 1 (being the best) to 10 (not meeting ISO standards).

By classifying communities’ ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the communities evaluate their public fire-protection services, and the program provides an objective, countrywide standard that helps fire departments in planning and budgeting for facilities, equipment and training, according to the ISO.

Next on the agenda for the CFD is hiring a training officer who is specialized is training firefighters.

“We have narrowed it down to two candidates,” explained Nesbitt. “We are waiting this week to see if the job is accepted or not; we expect to hear something from one of them this week.”

While the CFD is looking to rapidly improve its ISO rating, it also hopes to maintain the status once the goal rating is achieved. In doing so, the CFD is planning to look for land for a fourth fire station.

“The ISO report recommended a new fourth station regardless of a training facility,” said Nesbitt. “The training facility will improve our rating more immediately; the fourth station won’t go away; it’s more of a long-range plan.”

According to Nesbitt, the fourth fire station would be built near the intersection of Mauldin Road and Highway 41, but nothing is close to being finalized as of yet.

“We are starting to look for the property,” said Nesbitt. “Later on down the road, as the economy improves, we will continue to pursue that.”