City Council Moves Forward on Plans to Relocate Residential Bomb Squad Facility

For years, residents living in neighborhoods around the Mill Creek Corridor have been rattled by disruptive noises and plumes of smoke emerging from Cincinnati Fire Department’s Fire Training Center in Millvale.
CFD performs fire training exercises, as well as bomb training and explosives disposal, at special facilities on the Millvale training campus at 1898 Mill Creek Road.
However, the training center sits just 700 feet from Ethel M. Taylor Academy, a public elementary school, and is surrounded by several residential neighborhoods.
The corridor along Beekman Street and Mill Creek is home to many low-income, predominantly African American communities. Pollution is a long-standing problem in the area, with Mill Creek previously being one of the most polluted streams in the country.
Now, City Council is moving forward on plans to relocate CFD’s Bomb Squad, which resides in the Millvale facility, in order to mitigate residents’ concerns.
City Council adopted a motion requiring city administration to check the status of plans to relocate the CFD Bomb Squad’s storage and detonation operation on June 12. The motion requires city administration to report back to council within 60 days on relocation plans and potential costs associated with the move.
“This is an effort to understand how we can take into account [residents’] concerns and what the path forward is,” Councilmember Mark Jeffreys said at the June 12 meeting.
Jeffreys, along with Councilmembers Seth Walsh, Anna Albi, Meeka Owens, Scotty Johnson, Jeff Cramerding and Victoria Parks, sponsored the motion.
“While the Bomb Squad is an important part of CFD, its operations occasionally include detonating explosive devices at this location, which has been a concern of neighboring communities,” Jeffreys said.
According to Jeffreys, Fire Chief Frank McKinley and City Manager Sheryl Long have been exploring new locations for the Bomb Squad. At the June 12 council meeting, he said the two have had “some really good engagement and dialogue” on the issue over the past few months.
Jeffreys said the city administration is considering a new Cincinnati Police Department firing range opening in Colerain in 2025 as a potential location for CFD Bomb Squad facilities. Similarly, the gun range is in the process of being moved from Lincoln Heights to Colerain after noise and safety concerns .
Concerns about the Millvale training center are not new. Residents living in the South Cumminsville, Millvale and North Fairmount neighborhoods have been speaking out about the noise pollution and potential safety risks of the bomb squad’s training exercises for years.
In 2019, CityBeat reported on concerns from residents and Ethel M. Taylor Academy students, who reported smoke pollution and disruptive noises. At the time, CFD implemented short-term fixes including limiting bomb explosions during the school day, but recognized the need for a better long-term solution.
While CFD’s Bomb Squad may be relocating, the Millvale Fire Training Center is not.
The Cincinnati Fire Department broke ground on a $13 million expansion of the Millvale training facility in November 2022, but soon paused construction when the city ran into a funding gap for the project in 2023.
According to WVXU , Steven Breitfelder, the former interim fire chief, said the new training campus would not increase controlled burns and training exercises involving live fires and explosives. The facility was originally scheduled to be finished by late 2024 before the delays.