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Ontario invests $10 million in fire fighting infrastructure and training

June 25, 2024, Ontario — The Ontario government is investing $9 million through the Skills Development Fund (SFD) to build five new fire fighting training facilities.

When completed, the facilities will have the capacity to train 28,000 firefighters over a five-year period, the government said in a press release.

The five projects were selected from almost 80 applications through a collaboration between the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the Ministry of Infrastructure, and Infrastructure Ontario.

The process for selecting projects considers the objectives of the SDF capital fund and the need for skills development for emergency and in-demand jobs in critical sectors of Ontario’s economy, government officials said in a statement to Fire Fighting in Canada.

The government is additionally investing $970,150 in partnership with the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association to facilitate fire ground survival training to firefighters across the Niagara, Toronto and Kingston regions.

A final investment of $439,373 is being provided to the Town of Georgina to deliver training to its volunteer firefighters.

Funding from the SDF will be allocated to organizations and municipalities as follows:

• $3,667,650 to support the construction of a new fire services campus to replace the existing building used in training members of Orangeville Fire.
• $3,216,384 to build a new fire training complex in the municipality of Clarington.
• $865,046 to aid the construction of a fire training facility in Aurora.
• $780,331 to build a new fire hall for Hanover Fire and Rescue, supporting local training efforts.
• $550,436 for the construction of a new fire and rescue training facility in the town of Georgina.