Carbon County is moving forward with applying for funding for its proposed three-phase, $10 million multi-use fire training center even though the state budget stalemate is holding up grant awards.

On Thursday, the county commissioners approved a resolution for the Local Share Account grant application for the development and construction of the burn tower in the project.Carbon is seeking $950,000 through the grant, which will cover approximately one-third the cost of the tower.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the money the county currently is seeking would cover about one-tenth of the project. The county has submitted grant applications for approximately $2 million, pending the state budget being passed.Commissioner William O'Gurek said that the grant would help the county move the project forward, if and when the county is approved.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said that the commissioners went to Harrisburg to speak with lawmakers about the importance of these grants and felt the feedback was positive."There is a lot of money tied up with the budget," O'Gurek said. "That didn't stop us from knocking on the door of the house appropriations chairman to tell him how important this is for our firemen, police and ambulance services in Carbon County. We're working on it and we're confident that we're going to make this thing happen."Nothstein said that because of the budget delays, the timeline for the project, which begins with widening the road going onto the property in Nesquehoning, is being pushed back.The projectThe project, if completed as it was proposed earlier this year, will provide fire departments with live fire training sites, a burn 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 emergency operations/Emergency Management Agency would be moving into the new building to help oversee the secure site.The project will be located on the ground surrounding the Emergency Management Agency/911 Communications Center off Route 93 in Nesquehoning.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 multi-use 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.Since then, the county asked for municipality and emergency services support to strengthen grant applications, which Delta Development, the company hired to find funding sources, has identified.