Plano

Plano Voters Asked to Approve Millions for Fire Training Center

Proposition 2 would provide $29M bond; $15M would be used for training center

Voters in Plano are being asked to consider a ballot measure that would fund $29 million in public safety projects.

Proposition 2 asks voters whether to authorize the City of Plano to issue bonds for “acquiring, constructing, improving and equipping public safety facilities, including police, fire, emergency medical and other facilities to protect the safety, health and welfare of the residents of the City.”

More than half of the money - $15 million – would be earmarked for the Plano Fire-Rescue Department and used to construct a fire training center.

Plano does not have a training center that allows them to burn a building, according to Chief Sam Greif, which puts its 382 sworn firefighters at a distinct disadvantage.

“It’s obviously a big ask, but I think it’s a very needed ask,” Chief Greif said about the bond. “I was relatively shocked that we didn’t already have a training center in Plano when I got here two years ago.”

Chief Greif said his firefighters currently do their mandatory fire training at a location in Richardson, after previously training in McKinney.

The concern, he noted, is that traveling back and forth to the training center puts his department’s ability to maximize its response time to emergencies in jeopardy.

“It’s just simple distance and travel. You just can’t get there and back quickly,” Chief Greif said. “And it’s all about keeping your emergency resources as close to your jurisdiction, available for service quickly as you can possibly get.”

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