Gorgec afb near me is loaded with vacant houses. None built to code so they won't use them.
Reuse of former military bases
- Thread starter y_p_w
- Start date
My Coast Guard boot camp was at Tracen Alameda which is now a Coast Guard base for some of their larger ships. The TRACEN was consolidated with Tracen Cape May NJ. Looking at a map the NW end of the island has two
White buildings. Those were the barracks where about 700-800 recruits stayed.
During our boot camp we had one week at the Naval Base Treasure Island. The Navy had a firefighting/damage control school there as well as other stuff. We learned shipboard firefighting and actually trained with real fires in a concrete tower that had steel grates for floors much like a ships engine room. The trainers would light off a few hundred gallons of diesel with some gasoline to really get it started the closed the doors. When things were hot enough they would open the doors and we went in as trained trying to put the fire out with water. We were masked up and had breathing apparatus of course. It was all carefully monitored and scripted.
That place must have had a lot of pollution over the years.
White buildings. Those were the barracks where about 700-800 recruits stayed.
During our boot camp we had one week at the Naval Base Treasure Island. The Navy had a firefighting/damage control school there as well as other stuff. We learned shipboard firefighting and actually trained with real fires in a concrete tower that had steel grates for floors much like a ships engine room. The trainers would light off a few hundred gallons of diesel with some gasoline to really get it started the closed the doors. When things were hot enough they would open the doors and we went in as trained trying to put the fire out with water. We were masked up and had breathing apparatus of course. It was all carefully monitored and scripted.
That place must have had a lot of pollution over the years.
Yeah - most locals call it "Coast Guard Island".
They also did nuclear handling training at Treasure Island. Parts of it are still under US Navy control until it's cleaned up.
U.S. Navy cleanup program information | San Francisco
Information about remaining U.S. Navy environmental remediation activities on Treasure Island.
Several parcels of land on Treasure Island remain under federal ownership in order to allow completion of environmental remediation activities by the United States Navy. The Navy is legally required to complete all of its environmental remediation obligations, including radiological cleanup, prior to transferring these remaining parcels to the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA). The Navy’s environmental remediation program is separate from TIDA's Treasure Island Development Project.
Chanute AFB was turned over to a city (Rantoul) that didn't have the infrastructure of financial means to sustain it. I lived in Gifford when it happened and the city barely could maintain itself. Was back there a couple years ago and it's a ghost town and in shambles. Rantoul grew and was sustained by the base and it's retirees.
I suppose some of the most successful base reuses have been in the San Francisco Bay Area. I mentioned the Presidio of San Francisco, NAS Alameda, and Naval Station Treasure Island. However, even those have issues. In Alameda the city has been trying to get housing built but several contracts fell through. I'm kind of wondering about Treasure Island. They charge for parking, although I think residents can get monthly rates. Tolls (just to enter) are going to start in 2025 although I'd think residents don't need to pay. But they're trying to reduce private vehicles.
www.sfcta.org
Treasure Island Transportation Program
The Treasure Island Transportation Program will address the island's growing transportation needs with a goal to have at least 50 percent of trips made by transit instead of private vehicles.
That place would be a pretty cool state/nat park if it wasn't filled with the tears and dreams of Marines who thought they would be stationed at Hawaii instead lol.
We have an Air Guard field near Madison where they have done many firefighting exercises over the years. Now some of the city's municipal wells are showing contamination with firefighting chemicals.
That said, the military isn't the only source of this contamination -- it's not uncommon in places where the chemicals have been used or manufactured.
North of Madison is the old Badger Army Ammunition Plant, another decommissioned site on the Superfund list. They made smokeless powder and solid fuel for rockets. The place was a health hazard when it was running -- a friend's dad died of lung cancer after working there for years. And of course there was the occasional explosion ...
The Army dumped chemicals and untreated wastewater into the nearby Wisconsin River for years. Stuff like mercury and lead.
