Carbon County Commissioners are moving forward in preparation of a multimillion-dollar multiuse fire training facility in Nesquehoning.

On Thursday, the board voted to approve an agreement with architect Steven J. Elton of Bethlehem for the fire and emergency services training facility project.The costs associated with Elton's services are $280,125 for the emergency operations/training center; $43,000 for the fire and police training tower and burn building; and $9,200 for the observation building.The project will provide fire departments with live fire training sites, a drill tower and other training necessities, as well as give police, county departments and EMS services classroom and training options that normally are completed in other counties.The conceptual design plans call for widening the current road to the Emergency Management Agency/911 Communications Center to allow for additional traffic to the two new sites; constructing an approximate 3.8-acre fire training facility with a training building and drill areas and a two-story multiuse building that would be the new house of the EMA and Emergency Operations Center, as well as classrooms, meeting areas, vehicle and apparatus parking garages; and a stormwater management facility that would recycle water that is collected as available water for live fire training.The county began the project in February, when it announced that approximately 12 undeveloped acres in the Emergency Management complex will be used for the new training facility.The project will cost an estimated $10 million, but the commissioners have said it will be scaled to fit money they secure through grants.Since then, the county has been asking for municipality and emergency services support to strengthen grant applications, which Delta Development, the company hired to find funding sources, has identified.In May, county firefighters spoke out in support of the facility after some municipalities questioned the location and uses of the project.John McArdle, president of both the Carbon County Firemen's Association and the Carbon County Fire Chiefs' Association, said that the location of the facility was determined based on years of discussions and research.He also said the 911 center was not moving into the new facility. The emergency operations/Emergency Management Agency would be moving into the new building to help oversee the secure site.