PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – After nearly two years in the making, Charlotte County Fire & EMS finally has a brand new training facility and tower they can call their own. The tower, constructed of modified shipping containers reaches five stories into the air and allows instructors and firefighters to train in a multitude of situations and scenarios. From live fire, to smoke filled rooms, even technical rescue from a window or confined space is all capable. Deputy Chief of Fire Operations, Jason Fair along with other fire administrators are pleased that personnel will now be able to train in the county and not have to travel to other training sites throughout Florida. “There’s not a training facility like this within Charlotte County so this provides us with that opportunity within our county, where we’re not traveling distances taking units out of service to do that training, we’re able to do it in house,” said Fair. Fire and County administrators cut the ribbon and ofically opened the new training tower Wednesday morning.