Work has begun on the long-awaited West Virginia State Fire Academy at West Virginia Universitys Jacksons Mill State 4-H Camp at Weston.

Signaling the culmination of five years of planning, heavy equipment began digging and relocating soil at the south end of the Jacksons Mill airstrip last week.

The $6.3 million training academy is scheduled to be completed in June 2007. Steeb Crawford of Wexford, Pa., is the general contractor.

McKinley and Associates, an award-winning firm from Wheeling, designed the 25,752-square-foot facility, which will contain two wings�€an office and classroom section for faculty and staff and a bay area for inside training.

The State Fire Academy will be used by West Virginia Universitys Fire Service Extension (WVU-FSE) to train volunteer and career firefighters and first-responders. It will replace the current training facility on Monongahela Boulevard across from the WVU Coliseum. All WVU -FSE employeesincluding five full-time facultywill move from WVU s Morgantown campus to the new facility next summer.

WVU -FSE develops training courses, teaches National Fire Academy courses, offers national qualification testing and certifications, and trains firefighters in regional schools and at the annual State Fire School.

A multi-use building, the academy will be available for community group meetings and other WVU Jacksons Mill events. Annually, the Mill welcomes more than 76,000 campers, adult learners and history buffs.

The construction projects $6,308,000 budget is funded by Higher Education Policy Commission bonds ($3,772,500); an Economic Development Agency grant ($2,000,000); and a West Virginia Legislature appropriation ($535,500).

WVU Jacksons Mill, a 525-acre retreat operated by the WVU Extension Service, is the boyhood home of Civil War General Thomas J.StonewallJackson and the home of the nations first state 4-H camp.