Lothians firefighters set to blaze a trail as risk village gets go-ahead

Fire chiefs have tendered the contract for the 7.5 million Newbridge site in Midlothian which will replace Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue's existing 30-year-old training grounds on McDonald Road off Leith Walk.

The so-called "risk village" will allow firefighters to test new skills including dealing with terrorist incidents and chemical disasters.

Among the hazards set to test the firefighters' training will be a purpose-built hothouse for domestic fire training, a mock-up of a level crossing and a rubble pile designed to resemble a collapsed building.

The plans also show an area to test the service's response to rail accidents, and include two large four-storey buildings in the woodland setting.

Different scenarios, including line rescue and water rescue, will also be simulated, and on occasion Lothians firefighters will work at the site with other emergency services.

The two contracts consist of 6m in construction costs and a 1.5m provision for specialist fire training simulators and smoke generators.

Peter Heath, head of training and development, said that despite being faced with severe cuts, the fire service was committed to ensuring its personnel were highly trained and ready to deal with incidents ranging from vehicle collisions to full-scale disasters.

He said: "The proposal to build a training centre will enable the service to provide realistic training facilities to support firefighters in developing and maintaining the wide range of skills required of them.

"We are very mindful of the financial constraints on public spending and will move our plans forward in an informed and affordable manner to ensure that we continue to provide the best possible service to our communities."

The new facility is one of the only projects to survive the scaling back of Lothian and Border's five-year Service Improvement plan.

Originally, plans were set to see Marionville Station and part of Leith's McDonald Road Station sold off to pay for two new smaller stations, including one at Leith Docks.

These developments have now been put on hold until 2015, but fire chiefs hope to start work on the Newbridge training ground by April next year and see it completed by early 2012.