Petrolia Councilor Tim Brown takes a look at the architects plans for the new Petrolia/North Enniskillen Fire Department Training and Heritage Center with Fire Chief Lawrence Swift during a recent open house.

The new fire-training center in Petrolia is drawing a lot of attention.

While there weren’t a lot of people who attended an open house to talk about the plans for Petrolia/North Enniskillen Firefighters’ Training and Heritage Center Monday, Chief Lawrence Swift says a private fire training company has expressed interest in the project.

The fire department, with the blessing of Petrolia and Enniskillen Township, is constructing an addition in the back parking lot. It will house a training center for the department and will have an area for the historic artifacts. It’s expected to cost $170,000 and Swift says more than 70 percent of the cost has already been promised through either monetary, material or labour donations.

Swift says the community has been very supportive, but there has also been interest from the firefighting community.

The Wyoming Firefighters’ Association has donated some equipment to use during training exercises. Right now, firefighters use equipment from their own trucks. That can damage the equipment.

“The long-term goal is to get a set of equipment to be used for training purposes only,” says Swift.

In the meantime, the preparation for this summer’s build is continuing. Swift says the department recently was contacted by a private firefighting training company which heard about the project. They made a donation to the project and asked if, in the future, they would be able to rent the facility.

It even looked over the plans and made suggestions for improvements. “That’s a good thing, if we can generate some revenue,” says Swift.

Construction is expected to begin in July.