CLINTON, Ill. (WCIA) — A Central Illinois fire department got a new addition to their training facility. And on Saturday — they tried it out for the first time.

Saturday afternoon, the Clinton Fire Department worked on window entry to continue developing more skills.

“We can recreate active environments to train a little more realistic,” Clinton Fire Chief Stephen Page said.

The Clinton Fire Department has been building their three-story training facility since 2016.

“Constantly adding to it, making it more useful, and trying to train on the scenarios that we may encounter,” Page said.

And over the weekend, they got to take on a new challenge.

“It’s a window prop to where when we’re venting an upper floor window, we can actually get up there, break the panes of glass, help break the bar out of the middle of the window, crawl in and search,” training officer David Dallas said.

Page said this class was made up of mostly first- and second-year firefighters who were looking to hone their craft.

“We do work a lot towards certification. And with that, we need to do some of the skills over and over. And this just allows us to do a lot more of them,” Dallas said.

The firefighters participating in the training said that this type of facility gives them more than just improved skills.

“Build your confidence a lot more in your crews. And also, when we have our mutual aid come in and train with us, then we know each other’s background, we know each other’s strengths,” Page said.

Saturday afternoon two firefighters from Weldon joined in. First responders were split into groups of two. One team grabbed a ladder and broke the window — another entered downstairs — and the last team stayed outside.

Both groups that went inside rescued a dummy and brought them out from the structure. The department has put around $70,000 into it — all from community donations.

“It’s a really good feeling. We’ve always had real strong community support and being able to have something like that on display that shows the community that we’re invested in them and we’re trying to provide the best service we can,” Page said.

The department has future plans to expand the facility. They’re hoping to add a trench space — and cramped area training to help round out the structure.