Low maintenance and value-added features are essential to the longevity and useful life cycle of a fire training tower or burn building. WHP Trainingtowers™ provides firefighter training towers unlike any other on the market—intentionally designed for durability with minimal upkeep. While every new fire training building looks impressive at first, the real measure of its quality is how well it stands the test of time. At WHP, we believe that fire training towers should last a lifetime.
That’s why we never cut corners to save costs at the expense of long-term usability. Our firefighter training facility construction prioritizes strength, safety, and value. With built-in structural features that enhance durability, our fire department training towers deliver an extended lifespan, making them a sound investment for any department.
Strength in Design
Our fire training tower design is second to none. Featuring a unique dual-frame structure, our training towers are built for resilience from the ground up. We reinforce them with a corrugated cladding system, further protected by a hot-dipped galvanized coating to ensure long-term endurance. These fire training buildings are built to withstand the harshest conditions.
Dual-Frame Design
Our firefighter training towers are constructed using a fully galvanized structural steel frame, reinforced with a secondary framing system of 12-gauge steel columns. This design allows our burn towers to meet the highest wind load and seismic requirements in the country. As the only company in the world offering this level of structural superiority, WHP has delivered fire department training towers that have survived hurricanes in Florida, typhoons in Guam, and tornadoes in North Dakota—all still standing strong.
Corrugated Cladding
Our burn buildings are not just durable—they’re fortified with armor. We cover the structural frame with 4.5-inch deep corrugated panels embedded with additional smaller corrugations. These structural steel panels, much thicker than standard steel building materials, provide exceptional strength. Thanks to this compound corrugation, our WHP cladding delivers the same support strength as a steel girder of the same length and weight, allowing for wide-span areas without interior columns. This innovative design ensures greater flexibility for live fire training scenarios, from confined space training to rappelling to ship’s ladder exercises.
Corrosion Resistance
A long-lasting fire training tower requires superior corrosion resistance. Our panels, steel railings, stairs, and ladders undergo a hot-dipped galvanization process, ensuring complete bonding and protection against rust. This process is especially critical in fire training environments where exposure to water is routine. WHP’s galvanized steel structures exceed the strict standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), boasting an impressive 50-year mark on the “time to first maintenance” (TFM) chart. Even our rappelling anchors are upgraded to forged, hot-dipped galvanized swivel-style anchors for enhanced durability and safety.
Protection from Heat with the Padgenite Interlock System
Firefighter training towers endure intense heat, smoke, and water exposure. That’s why durability is a non-negotiable factor in fire training tower design. The fire-resistant building materials used must withstand repeated use in extreme conditions.
Our patented Padgenite Interlock™ System ensures superior protection. This innovative thermal lining system uses durable, low-density tiles combined with a flexible air gap to effectively dissipate extreme heat. In fact, when a fire is burning inside one of our burn buildings, the Padgenite Interlock™ system insulates so well that the exterior remains cool to the touch. As the only UL-listed burn room panel with the highest density board on the market, it is the most durable and quality-consistent burn room panel available today. These interlocking burn panels maintain lower temperatures during burns, protecting steel, masonry, and concrete surfaces, increasing the lifespan of fire training buildings.
Flexibility for the Future
Investing in a fire training tower that lasts for decades is only the beginning. Over time, fire departments must adapt to evolving firefighting techniques, community growth, and emerging technologies. A well-designed firefighter training facility should be versatile, allowing for expansion and modification as needs change.
Our modular training tower designs enable fire departments to add new props or modify existing features easily. With a flexible fire training tower design, departments can incorporate advancements in firefighting technology, ensuring that their fire training engineering remains state-of-the-art for years to come.
WHP Provides the Best Value in Firefighter Training Towers
Every new fire training building starts out looking great, but its true value is revealed over time. WHP Trainingtowers™ are built to last a lifetime—and they do. Our first fire training tower, constructed in 1980 in Kotzebue, Alaska, is still in active use today, nearly 45 years later!
Beyond our superior fire training tower construction, WHP provides a turnkey solution to meet your department’s needs—from budgeting and design to post-installation support. That’s why fire departments across the globe trust WHP for their firefighter training facility construction.
At WHP Trainingtowers™ we design our fire training towers to last a lifetime. By refusing to cut corners or compromise on quality, we ensure that our towers offer the lowest life cycle cost and the greatest longevity, providing fire departments with the best value in fire training towers. Don’t let your money go up in smoke.
At WHP Trainingtowers™, we design our towers to last a lifetime. When it comes to quality and durability, demand the best. Demand WHP Trainingtowers™. To learn more, call 1-800-351-2525 or contact us online.
