MONROE — The MERIT Center, the six-acre city-owned site dedicated to emergency response safety training, has been renamed in honor of a Monroe firefighter who died while on duty in 2007. 

The David A. Rufer Regional Training Center is named after the 20-year member of the Monroe Fire Department who died from a cardiac-related problem during a training exercise in Monroe. Rufer was 42 years old. He is the only firefighter to die in the line of duty in the 150-year history of the department.

His father, Ken Rufer, is a 55-year veteran of the department and serves as a motor pump operator.

Monroe Fire Chief Dan Smits announced the new name this week and said it comes with new goals and objectives for the facility.

In addition to fire training, Smits is planning to add safety training for farm families to prevent equipment entanglement. He’d also like to see more law enforcement training at the facility.

Ultimately he said it is well-located to serve as a regional training center and he’s seeking partnerships to achieve this goal.

“We haven’t used it for the possibilities it could be,” Smits said.