Duluth Fire Department to Benefit from Training in Vacant Buildings

Aspirus St. Luke's has made available several vacant residential buildings to Duluth Fire Department for training purposes.

The vacant properties on the lake-side of East Second Street between 11 ^th Avenue East and 12 ^th Avenue East, totaling 17 structures, are set to be demolished this summer.

Before that happens, Duluth Fire Department will benefit from unrestricted access to the buildings, to practice techniques including firefighter emergency bailout training and search rope training.

"This is a great opportunity to train in real world structures," said Mike Consie, training chief of Duluth Fire Department. "This is the kind of training we don't usually get because it's hard to find structures where people can let us in to do this."

As part of Aspirus St. Luke's long-term campus plan, additional employee parking will be created to alleviate the pressure on current on-street parking.

"We were pleased to give these buildings added purpose by making them available to Duluth Fire Department for vital firefighter training," said John Strange, Aspirus St. Luke's CEO.

The former tenants of the properties were given a lengthy notice that their leases, which expired May 31, would not be renewed.

Tenants were permitted to remove appliances from the properties and offered assistance to find new accommodation.