As the CFD has grown to protect a rapidly expanding city, its training academy campus has seen only incremental change. To position the department for the future, the City of Charlotte engaged Boomerang Design to lead a comprehensive Fire Training Academy Programming and Master Plan Study that rethinks how the campus can better support modern, scenario-based training.

Boomerang Design began with a thorough inventory and assessment of all existing training structures and stations—evaluating size, condition, location, and proximity—while simultaneously engaging CFD leadership to understand how effectively these spaces serve today’s training demands. Building on this foundation, the team collaborated with staff and training participants to define a clear, prioritized list of program needs and key adjacencies, then refined these requirements with CFD leadership to ensure alignment with long-term goals.

These insights drove the creation of multiple schematic campus options to address capacity and functionality gaps, improve training realism, and enhance overall campus organization. Through a collaborative review process, a preferred master plan option emerged, and Boomerang Design provided a prioritization assessment and a cost estimate to support a smart, phased investment.

The resulting master plan delivers a strategic roadmap for modernizing the Fire Training Academy—supporting more effective, immersive training experiences and ensuring CFD is equipped to meet Charlotte’s evolving public safety needs for years to come.