Cincinnati Fire training ground expansion has neighbors concerned over health and safety

Sandra Davis has lived in South Cumminsville for more than three decades. She says explosions from the nearby Cincinnati Fire training grounds along the Mill Creek used to shake her house. Some of her neighbors, including educators at Ethel M. Taylor Elementary School just 700 feet away, have concerns about air quality on burn days.

Davis also wonders how the facility affects property values, especially with a $13 million expansion coming.

"I understand the importance of the fire training facility," she says. "And it's really great that it's a regional training facility — they're able to help other fire departments — I just want it to be safe for the fire fighters as well as the community because we're here ongoing."

Davis and other residents of South Cumminsville, Millvale and North Fairmount gathered June 29 at the school for a listening session organized by environmental nonprofit Green Umbrella and the Cincinnati NAACP. Officials from the Cincinnati Fire Department also attended to hear concerns and share information about future plans for the training facility's expansion.