[KHTS] – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider authorizing more than $4 million Tuesday for infrastructure improvements at the Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center in the Castaic area.

At their Tuesday meeting, the county board will vote on whether to set aside the money for a new water storage tank, electrical substation, new communications building and electrical and telecommunications conduits at the county Fire Department training facility on Chiquito Canyon Road.

In November 2008, the board approved a Joint Use Agreement between the Fire Department and the Santa Clarita Community College District to build training facilities at Del Valle.

Firefighters conduct a training exercise at the Del Valle facility. File photo: KHTS.

“The proposed Project consists of the construction of infrastructure improvements to support projects, which have been carried out by the Santa Clarita Community College District,” according to a letter attached to the board agenda.

Approving funds for the infrastructure project is only the first step.

Once the design of the project has been completed, the county Department of Public Works would need to return to the board with findings under the California Environmental Quality Act, to adopt plans and specifications and to advertise for construction bids.

Completion is scheduled for summer 2016.

The Del Valle Regional Emergency Training Center was built to give firefighters a taste of scenarios they might encounter everyday on the job, including chemical fires, vehicle fires and brush fires.

It allows them “to simulate, in a safe environment, what firefighters actually experience in a non-safe or chaotic environment,” said Del Valle Fire Captain Mitch Diehl in a previous interview. “It basically brings a little order to a traditionally chaotic occupation.”