The Ohio Fire Academy (OFA) is situated on the 73-acre State Fire Marshal complex just east of Columbus. The OFA is one of eight bureaus that report to the marshal, so it has both offices and classrooms in the main building. It also has its own fire station, apparatus and assorted training buildings on the campus.

Shortly after I became the fire marshal, we discovered that the OFA's 11-year-old burn building had developed several structure fractures. Portions of the first-floor ceiling partially collapsed during a live-burn exercise, and the fractures later were confirmed with an assessment and core testing by a structural engineering firm.

After addressing the need and securing approval of the governor and state legislators for its replacement, we selected an architect and began the design of the new structure. It was to house both a training tower and burn building that could withstand the rigors of the OFA's seven-week-long Firefighter I and II program that was held six times a year, plus regular use by fire departments from throughout central Ohio.

OFA Superintendent Frank Conway and his staff wanted the structure to handle both Class A and liquid propane gas (LPG) burns. The LPG props included a kitchen and car in an attached garage on the first floor, a suite of offices on the second floor with a fire initiating in a trash can, and a residential apartment on the third floor that could be used for search and rescue and ventilation above the fire floors. All LPG props had flashover capability. Separately, there were four Class A burn areas — two on the first floor and two on the second. Scenarios never used Class A and LPG at the same time.

Safety features included an LPG detection system throughout the building. If any LPG was evident during a Class A fire, the detection system immediately shut down any activity in the building. During an LPG live fire, the lead instructor restricted the flow of gas from a handheld control that also acted as a dead man's switch, should the burn need to be halted.

Additionally, a safety officer monitors any live burn from a control house on the A side of the structure. The control house contains temperature monitoring and communications equipment, the accountability boards, and a separate LPG shut-off.

In the four Class A and LPG burn areas, the superstructure, ceiling and all structural components are covered with High Temperature Lining (HTL) tiles. If worn or damaged, these individual tiles can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of a serious structural repair. Non-load-bearing walls that make up the various hallways are not covered, as they do not receive any direct fire contact.

In addition to search and rescue, the third floor mezzanine also provides an area to conduct realistic ventilation with saws and hooks over the live fire areas on the second floor. The adjacent tower and burn building can provide an area for a ladder maze drills and the tower also doubles as an area for confined-space and rappel training. During graduation week, each firefighter recruit company stands a separate 24-hour shift at the OFA Fire Station. During that time, the instructors challenge the firefighters with a variety of scenarios during the day and night. With the ability to change scenarios in the burn building, they face residential kitchen and bedroom fires, commercial office and warehouse fires and, by use of the interior stairwells, a basement and garage fire.

Since its completion in 2002, the facility has greatly improved the OFA's ability to handle nearly 50 Firefighter I and II classes for recruits, several Advanced Fire Attack Courses for veteran firefighters, and the annual Feel the Heat program for elected and public officials. Each course has been conducted under the strictest of safety standards while enhancing the training of Ohio's firefighters.

• Read the main story, "Floor to Ceiling," to learn about a checklist that will help you design a functional training tower which makes the most of each space.