Before the city’s Big Springs 5K and one-mile fun run on March 13, a few things have to be done. Like burning down one of the old houses at the park.

The training exercise will be coordinated by the Springville Fire Department with other fire halls taking part.

Sometime after 8 a.m. Saturday the SFD will shut down Big Springs Park and light one of the rooms of an old house on the property on fire and 18 local firefighters will begin training on search and rescue, forcible entry and ventilation practices.

Before the day is out the building will have served to help local first responders be more prepared for emergencies. The house will then be demolished before the fun run next weekend.

Big Springs 5K  and run

The race will benefit the playground fund for new equipment at Big Springs Park.

Registration for the Big Springs 5K runs through 7 a.m. on the morning of the race.

Shirts will be provided to the first 150 registrants who register before March 13.

To register online, visit www.active.com  or

www.springvillealabama.org and follow the link to print a brochure or call 467-2700 for more information or to donate to the playground equipment fund. You can also email bigsprings5k@gmail.com

Police Department renovation

On Monday the city discussed how to go about  renovating the former Reaves building on Walker Drive, which was purchased a year ago in the hopes of turning it into the new police station.

Councilmembers heard from architect Kyle Franklin, who presented plans for various phases the building would have to go through in order for it to become the new police station.

It was shown that it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $350,000 for the first phase of a new station at the site.

Preparations that needed to be done at the site to get it to be used as a temporary police building include preparing the outside of the building, taking out doors, running the data terminals and wiring through the building and other standard construction involved with keeping areas in-line with police use such as securing an area that would be used as an evidence room.

After the presentation, the council discussed how to move along with the project. Some wondered how much work could be done locally or with minimal financial impact, but the general consensus was that the site needed to be prepped as soon as possible.

Council members decided to go head and start contacting financial institutions about what kinds of bond rates might be available if they want to go ahead with the project in the coming months.