The former Leroy’s Inn is now fenced off. In February and March, the Strathmore Fire Department reached out to Strathpoint Shopping Plaza in order for local firefighters to take part in training at the building which is slated for demolition. 

According to the fire department, the training included  Forcible Entry, Salvage/Overhaul, Hose Deployment, Wall Breaching, and Search Techniques.  

Strathmore Fire Department Fire Chief Dave Sturgeon spoke to the asset it was to have a facility to practice in close to home for local firefighters. 

“In this area specifically we don't have anything close by where we're able to do that,” he said of a training facility. “ We have to send people away to do that type of training, which is mandatory with our requirements to do.”

"When we heard they were demolishing, we just reached out to the developer and they granted us access to be able to go in."

Local firefighters conduct training sessions every week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

"We have so many skills that we have to keep certified or accredited for the year. We have to run each of our members through those skills,” he explained.  

One of the key pieces to training at the former hotel is that they were able to put many more people through the process.  

Keeping training in their own backyard has been a help to the bottom line, "It's quite costly to send people out of town. This way we were able to get more people through and we were able to do more intense things that we normally wouldn't do because we had the time to do it right,” he said.