The FAA has funded several regional airport firefighting training centers. These training centers are inherently complex, expensive to construct, and costly to maintain.  After a few years, some of these training centers have fallen into disrepair, and FAA funding to repair them has been limited.  As a result, several training centers have closed, and the rate of closures has been increasing, particularly due to environmental issues such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS).  These closures have made it difficult for firefighters to find proper training facilities that are relatively close to their home base, and with recurrent training being required every 12 months, concerns are that airport fire departments across the nation may not be able to meet FAA requirements.  Research is needed to assess the current state of airport firefighting training capacity and to consider longer-range requirements relative to possible system capacity shortages, increased demand, limited funding, and environmental concerns.

The objective of this research is to assess the current state of airport firefighting training capacity, estimate future requirements, and describe options for meeting future needs, including methods for planning, approving, building, operating, maintaining, funding, and decommissioning firefighter training centers.