OSHKOSH (NBC 26) – The 2025 budget for the city of Oshkosh will be finalized next week, and one of the biggest expenses is a new training facility for the fire department.

Chief Mike Stanley says the OFD has never had its own training center, forcing new recruits to train in abandoned buildings and empty parking lots.
In 2020, the Fire Department built a large training tower in the parking lot of a former Army National Guard training building on North Sawyer Street.

Now they are asking for $7.7 million to renovate the building and the rest of the lot.

“It’s really an innovative and efficient use of our resources, you know, an opportunity to do something with what was an old building that we only used for storage,” Stanley says.

Renovations would include classroom space, new technology and a gym.

“We want to be prepared for when new technologies and new needs arise in the community, and know how to handle them,” Stanley says.

According to Stanley, the building would be key to recruiting and retaining firefighters.

“Our neighbors to the north in Appleton have access to a world-class training facility at Fox Valley Tech, our neighbors to the south in Fond du Lac, several years ago, built a new multi-million dollar training facility,” he said. says. “So while I’m making the decision of where am I going to start and spend my career? Do I have a place to train?”

The Fire Department will also need upgrades to the station in the coming years due to aging infrastructure, but Stanley says he believes training facilities should be the next step.

“The needs are many and the dollar is scarce,” he says.

The OFD, already included in the 2025 budget, will receive another ambulance and a full-time ambulance team.

In a preliminary budget meeting, the Oshkosh City Council said it would put $7.7 million into a contingency fund as part of the city’s capital improvements budget.

“In my opinion, police and fire are the two most important things that local government does, so we’re going to do something for the fire department in terms of their capital improvement schedule next year,” says the member of council Jacob Floam. “We’ll have a better idea of ​​that in and around January and February.”

The council will explore more efficient ways to use the money, such as building a joint training center that OFD would share with the Oshkosh Police Department, according to Floam.

Stanley says he’s grateful the council is considering the department’s needs in the 2025 budget.

“Fortunately, the city council and our community have been very supportive of the Oshkosh Fire Department,” he says.