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The City of Amarillo has approved a contract to provide hardware for a new live fire training simulator that will be installed near the fire training facility at the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. The decision was made during Tuesday’s Amarillo City Council meeting and marks a significant step toward restoring local aircraft firefighting training capabilities that have been unavailable for years.
City officials explained that the project includes purchasing a metal mock-up structure along with a propane-based system designed to simulate aircraft fire conditions in multiple configurations. The funding for the project is tied to federal support funneled through an airport improvement mechanism.
“This is actually a request for the purchase of the metal mock-up as well as the propane system with an inside so they can set fires in different places. I wanted to note that we can actually do this because of Congressman Ronnie Jackson’s earmark grant, which is being put into the FAA airport improvement program in order to fund it,” explained the City of Amarillo Assistant City Manager & Chief Technology Officer, Rich Gagnon.
According to officials, the new simulator will replace an outdated system that has not met Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance standards for several years. As a result of its closure, local firefighters have been required to travel to other cities for required certification training.
“Since 2018, firefighters have had to go to Lubbock to do their training because we have to be certified if you’re going to fight fires on aircraft. So we’ll no longer have to do that. And we might even be able to pull trainings here,” added Gagnon.
The ability to conduct training locally is expected to improve efficiency for the fire department while reducing travel costs and logistical burdens associated with off-site certification. Officials also indicated that a separate contract will be issued to handle civil earthwork for the project site.
During the council meeting, members raised questions about how water and runoff from training exercises would be contained, given the use of fire suppression and fuel-based simulation systems.
City leaders outlined a containment strategy that includes newly constructed infrastructure designed to capture and manage runoff materials. “As part of this project, there’ll be a new pit that is dug. There are multiple sections to it and everything. There are some retaining ponds and things like that. So all the water that comes off it and any other chemicals that are used go into that pit and then into these other ponds,” said the Director of Aviation, Michael Conner.
Conner also addressed environmental considerations tied to the site selection, noting that the new simulator will not be built on the same location as the previous one due to contamination concerns.
“In fact, we’re building, we’re not building on the same site as the current simulator because there’s PFAS in that area. We wanted to have more of a greenfield site where we don’t have to remediate all that kind of stuff. So going forward. So all that stuff will be collected and then disposed of accordingly.”
PFAS, a class of long-lasting industrial chemicals, have been a growing concern at aviation and firefighting training sites nationwide. City officials emphasized that relocating the simulator to a new, uncontaminated area is intended to reduce environmental risks and avoid costly remediation work.
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