In advance of King County's plan to remove apartments and put in an underground storage tank for combined sewer overflows just east of Lowman Beach Park in West Seattle, Seattle firefighters will use the soon-to-be demolished homes for training purposes.

The tank, once finished, will store approximately one million gallons when the Murray Pump Station exceeds maximum capacity, according to King County. More information can be found at the project website.

Training will take place in two phases, one starting March 28 and another in April.

Here are the details from King County:

Yesterday afternoon (March 26) the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) notified King County that it had obtained the necessary permits to conduct training at the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Facility site across from Lowman Beach Park. The training will occur in two phases, the first of which will begin tomorrow Thursday 3/28, could extend into Friday 3/29.

During this training phase, SFD trainees will perform destructive training inside a few of the buildings in which there are no more salvage opportunities. Their activities could include cutting into roofs and tearing down drywall inside the buildings. Building doors and site fencing removed during these activities will be replaced at the conclusion of activities around 5:00 p.m. The site and training activities will be monitored by SFD leadership. By permit condition, SFD is obligated to provide traffic control , site security and site cleanup necessary due to the training exercise.

Buildings used in training will be repaired to prevent access and/or water damage. Buildings in which some salvage opportunities remain are not being used in the training. Salvage activities are being coordinated by project artist Robert Horner.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN LATE MARCH
• Increased activity at the Murray CSO Control Facility site and inside buildings on the site
• SFD trucks and personnel on and near at the Murray CSO Control Facility project site on Beach Drive SW across from Lowman Beach Park
• SFD personnel temporarily removing site fencing and some building doors during training hours
• SFD trucks and equipment along Beach Drive SW, potentially resulting in reduced parking
• Training hours are 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Seattle Fire Department will conduct a second phase of training in late April, which will include a small, controlled burn inside one of the buildings and could result in some smoke becoming visible. More information about that training will be available soon.

In related news, King County has obtained the necessary permits to deconstruct the buildings onsite and is currently preparing a contract bid for that work. Deconstruction is expected to begin soon after the second phase of SFD training.