Brookfield Asset Management and Fayette County Firefighters Association, Fayetteville, W.Va., are planning a ribbon cutting to mark the start of construction on a new firefighter training center on a closed golf course donated by Brookfield.
Construction of the training center is expected to begin later this year.
Brookfield acquired the long-closed golf course as part of its acquisition of the Hawks Nest hydropower facility.
Since the real assets manager acquired the property in 2006, including the 155-acre tract that contains the golf course, executives of its renewables business, Brookfield Renewable Partners, received a lot of interest in the property from individuals, businesses and non-profits, but decided to donate the property to the firefighters association, a spokeswoman said.
"We heard from our employees in Fayette County, a number of whom are volunteer firefighters themselves, that there was a real issue with volunteer firefighter recruitment in the area … due to the distance of which potential recruits had to travel to train," said Andy Davis, Brookfield Renewable's senior director of strategic relationships, in a statement.
Fayette County Fire Coordinator Joe Crist said in a statement that his group is "extremely grateful for their tremendously generous donation of beautiful land for this training center."
