St. George buys land on Airline for $1.8 million

The St. George Fire Protection District has purchased 8.1 acres of land on Airline Highway and plans to build a training-maintenance-administrative center there. The fire district paid nearly $1.8 million for the land near Barringer Foreman Road, in a deal that closed Friday. The purchase allows St. George to consolidate some of its operations at a single site and improve its training facilities. Right now, the administrative offices are on Perkins Road, equipment is stored on Highlandia Drive and training takes place in rented space in Barringer Foreman Technology Park, says Eldon Ledoux, the public information officer for St. George. “This is something we’ve been looking at doing for a long, long time,” says Gerard Tarleton, St. George fire chief. Tarleton says St. George plans to start training on the property as soon as January, but construction of the new facilities won’t begin until late summer or fall 2010. Tarleton says plans are to spend three to five years building out the facility.—Timothy Boone