A new training tower for its fire department doesn’t appear to be in the cards in Lehighton.

The matter was addressed at Monday’s borough council meeting one month after a request was made by the fire department for help to construct a new three-story training tower.

Councilwoman Lisa Perry explained that there is no way the borough can afford the request at the present time.

“It’s just too costly right now,” Perry said.

Councilman Ryan Saunders said that while he understood, he was nonetheless “disappointed.”

“It would have been nice to find funding for it,” Saunders said.

Councilman Joe Flickinger, who is also a volunteer firefighter, said the matter would prove too costly at this time.

“It’s just one of those things; we can only spend so much,” Flickinger said. “It’s just not financially feasible.”

Last month, two members of the fire department, Steve Ebbert, committee chairperson, along with Assistant Fire Chief Mike Mriss, appealed to council for help to construct the structure.

They said while the department has been successful in recruiting new members, it lacks adequate training facilities for those young recruits.

The cost of the project was estimated to be $318,650, with the firefighters providing some of the labor.

Council took no action at that time, and instead agreed to advance the matter to the Finance Committee to determine if funds were available.

Ebbert told council at last month’s meeting that the tower would be erected on the old sewer plant site.

The fire department previously had use of a three-story, concrete training tower at Baer Memorial Park that was built in the 1960s.

That tower was razed in July 2014 after the structure was condemned because of rust on the interior metal staircase, cracks in the masonry and roof joists in poor condition.

Since then, the department’s volunteer firefighters have been training on the site of the former Lehighton sewage treatment plant off Route 443.

Ebbert said last month that the conception of a new training building was included in the fire department’s long-range strategic planning, with an initial goal for its completion by 2025.

Perry questioned why the fire department doesn’t use the new training facilities being erected by the county in Nesquehoning.

A $6 million fire training project is being erected near the Carbon County Correctional Facility and is expected to be completed by next fall.

Ebbert said firefighters receive 16 hours of training per month, and that it would be difficult to have them travel to Nesquehoning on a regular basis for such lengthy training, and hard on the fire apparatus taking it to that site so often.

Further, he said that whenever Lehighton would train in Nesquehoning, other fire departments would have to be placed on standby status to handle emergencies in the borough.

Additionally, Ebbert noted that many fire departments train on Monday nights, meaning that it would be impractical for so many departments doing drills at the same time in Nesquehoning.

Ebbert said last month that he endorses the Nesquehoning site.

However, he said the fire department wants to keep the younger members who have joined, and feels that having such a facility would be an incentive for them.