Bill and Peggy Harrison « chicagoareafire.com

Excerpts from mywebtimes.com:

The Streator Fire Department Training Center is now open, providing a safe and controlled environment to train local firefighters. It was made possible due to the Jim Rhodes family donating nine acres of land on West 10th Street along with funds donated from Bill and Peggy Harrison. The training center will be open for use to other regional paid and volunteer fire departments. Volunteer departments will only be required to pay for the consumable items they use.

The new training center also helps the department’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) score.

The fire department plans on having four burns per year, most of which will take place in the spring, summer, and fall to avoid ice and cold weather. They will have their first official training starting Monday, April 22, through Wednesday, April 24.

new training facility for the Streator Fire Department

Streator Fire Department photo

Tags: Bill and Peggy Harrison, chicagoareafire.com, Jim and Marjorie Rhodes Estate, new training center proposed for public safety personnel, new training facility for the Streator Fire Department, Steator receives land donation for training facility, Streator Fire Chief Gary Bird, Streator Fire Department

Excerpts from mywebtimes.com:

The Streator Fire Department received a boost toward building its planned regional training center Wednesday.

Bill and Peggy Harrison donated $65,000 to the department, to be used for the construction of a 30-by-30-foot classroom in the spring. This is phase two of a five-year project for the center at the end of 10th Street. Jim and Marjorie Rhodes donated the property for the center earlier this year.

“We were talking about some donation ideas and had been thinking about it for four to five years,” Peggy Harrison said. “We heard the city was getting the land and thought that would be ideal. It will be a real asset to the community.”

“It’s going to help other communities too and law enforcement, it won’t only be for fire training,” Bill Harrison said. “We wanted to try to help Streator in some way. This came about and was a good opportunity to see if they needed help.”

Fire Chief Gary Bird said the classroom will be used for fire and police training, while the rest of the facility will be used for hands-on training.

“(The donation) helps the city by alleviating the cost and will speed up the building of the training center,” Bird said.