The City of St. Catharines today commissioned its new Fire and Emergency Services Training Tower ending a nearly decade-long chapter of City firefighters training in other municipalities and in City buildings.
The new $2.3-million training tower, with $1 million in financial support from the Ontario government, has been built on the footprint of the former tower decommissioned in 2017 on Renown Road overlooking Twelve Mile Creek and Hwy. 406.
The City has been without a training tower for several years, which necessitated St. Catharines firefighters travel to Fort Erie, Niagara Falls or Grimsby to train in their towers, or to train in City buildings, including rope training, running up and down the stairwell and fire hose work in the Carlisle Street parking garage.
St. Catharines Fire Chief Dave Upper expressed excitement for the opportunities the new tower will provide to train the City’s new recruits and current firefighters at home for live fire training, rappelling off buildings and rope training, search and rescue, firefighter survival methods and highrise firefighting procedures.
“This new training tower is a critical piece of infrastructure for our training needs,” Chief Upper said. “This purpose-built, modern training tower is an investment in safety – for our firefighters and for the residents and businesses we serve. Today, we’re not just opening a facility – we’re strengthening our readiness, our resilience, and our commitment to protecting our community for decades to come.”
In Ontario, municipal firefighters now require mandatory training certification. Provincial government funding provided great assistance to the City in building a facility to meet the certification deadline, Chief Upper said.
The project was supported with $1 million in funding by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and the Government of Ontario.
“Firefighters face high-risk situations every day, and they deserve access to the best training possible,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “Our government is proud to support the construction of this modern training tower so firefighters can train safely for real scenarios, close to home. This investment ensures the people who protect our communities have the tools and preparation they need to respond when seconds count.”
“Our government is proud to support the brave men and women of the St. Catharines Fire Services through the construction of this training tower,” said Solicitor General Michael Kerzner. “In addition, the adoption of NG911 will be a game changer, meaning more calls answered and more lives saved when it matters most. Through our investment in the Fire Protection Grant, we’re also ensuring that those who protect Ontario are protected, with lifesaving equipment, cancer prevention measures, and critical infrastructure upgrades.”
Years in the making, the new training was part of a 2019 St. Catharines Fire Services Master Plan approved in 2019. The tower, built in 1974, was decommissioned nearly a decade ago, due to safety issues when it was determined it was cost-prohibitive to fix the tower.
Vincent Covatta, the City’s Senior Project Manager, said the pre-engineered steel building was purchased for $1.06 million from WHP Training Towers, with a high percentage of steel fabricated in Canada. Other project costs included demolition of the existing tower, foundations, assembly, electrical services, sitework and concrete all completed by Vineland contractor Duomax Developments Limited with consulting services provided by Whiteline Architects Inc.
The new training tower project team included: Whiteline Architects Inc., Hallex Engineering Ltd., assembly by contractor, Vineland company Duomax Developments Limited, Archeological Services Inc. and steel building contractor, Brouwer Building Systems.
Work on the replacement training tower began last July and was substantially completed on Dec. 31, 2025, with the final stage of completion occurring in recent weeks.