Litchfield County Regional Fire School
606 Burr Mountain Road
Torrington, CT 06790
(Click on above for fall training announcement)
School Committee Meeting
Thursday, November 17, 2022; 7:00 p.m.
Litchfield County Regional Fire School
Each burn room was required to go through a process of heating prior to actual live burns. Scheduling has been restarted for use by local departments. The building has three floors with multiple burn rooms. Many props have been built into the structure.
Usage fees: $500 for 4 hours; $1,000 for 8 hours. Fees include 2 instructors serving as a burn officer and a safety officer. Straw and pallets will also be provided. Additional instructors are available at $40 per hours.
Pump Operator Class for Northfield Volunteer Fire Company August 5, 2018. Instructors Bob Mangione and John Andryzeck.
New Classroom/Administrative Building
School History
In September of 1959 the Litchfield County Fire Chiefs Emergency Plan, Inc. voted to build a training school. A site in the Burrville section of Torrington was chosen. In January of 1960, President Horace Squires, appointed a Building Committee of William Canty, Chairman, John Noble, John Mullen, John Gibb, Leslie Kilmer, Allen Bowkett, and August Mahieu. Through the efforts of this committee along with many others, the training school was dedicated on September 3, 1961. William Canty was named the Director of the school and the first course was conducted in May of 1962. Chief Frank Yanok of Torrington conducted classes for many years and also began the task of training more instructors so that the school’s curriculum could be expanded.
The original classroom building has been added on to several times. It had two classrooms, and an auxiliary classroom, instructor prep room, office, equipment room, kitchen, furnace room, generator room, and a couple of storage rooms.
The original smoke house was converted to an oil pump house and then eventually torn down when the school stopped using oil for training fires. The smoke house has a basement, first floor, second floor, and attic. The attic contains a maze for SCBA training. Live fire training had not been allowed for several years due to the physical condition of the building.
The original tower was four stories high. Although another floor was added. Many older firefighters can remember jumping from the tower into a life net. This has not been done for over two decade because of safety concerns.
In 2016 the original buildings were razed to make way for a new facility which is schedule to open in September of 2018. Two storage buildings were constructed over the years and remain today.
The Fire School is managed by the Litchfield County Fire Chiefs Emergency Plan, Inc. (Exempt Organization, 501 (C) (3)) through its’ School Committee. The school director is charged with over seeing the day-to-day operations of the school. The assistant school director is responsible for course curriculum and instructors. Instructors hired by the school are all certified by the State of Connecticut.
