Regional training centers provide a safe haven for firefighters who want to hone their skills in real-world scenarios, live fires and classroom discussions. But regional centers aren't dedicated solely to fire departments. Instead, such centers invite all public agencies to run drills, learn specific skills and co-mingle with firefighters in order to foster interagency cooperation, said Alan Benson, fire chief at the Woodlands (Texas) Fire Department.

Benson and his team manage the Woodlands Emergency Management Training Center, a multidisciplinary facility built less than two years ago. The center was paid for by through sales tax and cost more than $8 million to build. It is a 13-acre site, with 21,000 square feet of classroom facilities and four acres of open concrete, Benson said. The campus includes six multiuse classrooms capable of holding 24 to 170 students, a library/skills lab with secure and unsecured storage, a three-bay apparatus room, a SCBA room with a compressor and a six-bottle fill station, and a 6-story live-burn training tower.

"It also has a confined-space prop and a driver-operator training range used for any typical maneuvers and braking exercises," he said.

The training center currently houses the Woodlands Fire Department's Training Division and Lone Star College-Montgomery's Fire Science Program. Benson said the center formed a partnership with the college to host fire certification under the Texas Commission of Fire Protection. Three, eight-month courses have been held with approximately 30 to 35 in each class, he said.

EMT courses also are offered and, in the future, so will intermediate and paramedic training. Benson believes that EMS is essential to fire-service training and departments that don't offer EMS or first-responder services are missing the boat.

"We put a lot of resources and provide incentives for our firefighters to become paramedics," he said. "I think that is one of the backbone services to communities. I can't believe there are fire departments that do not offer those services."

The Woodlands Fire Department uses the training center extensively, as do other fire departments in the county, for intercompany drills. But the center also hosts local police, county sheriffs, fire brigades and oil-industry personnel. Benson said having an interagency regional training center ensures cross-agency collaboration — which still needs improvement. He said that in his previous position as fire chief in Oklahoma City, domestic terrorism and then devastating tornados brought together multiple agencies that operated in a territorial fashion "where police didn't play well with fire or EMS." A training center with multiple disciplines brings together agencies so they can operate effectively during a large incident.

"The easiest thing you can do is foster those relationships before an emergency ever happens," Benson said. "So I think it's really important to bring all disciplines in, learn to play well together, get to know them personally, exercise with them and everyone will perform better during an emergency."

Georgia's Peach

The Georgia Public-Safety Training Center (GPSTC) trains about 100,000 state police, fire, hazmat, emergency management and other public-safety personnel, said Butch Beach, deputy director for training. Responders throughout the state have the opportunity to learn new skills and gain state certifications while working alongside mutual-aid agencies.

"Agencies work closer together to get the full public-safety picture," Beach said. "Since multidisciplinary responses are very common, it helps with interoperability. And there's always training value in talking to other departments to get new ideas and fresh techniques."

It's a change that occurred more than 20 years ago. At one time there were separate police and fire academies. Now, public-safety personnel learn at a training supercenter with more than 1 million square feet that includes 258 dorm rooms and a full cafeteria. The level of training provided and its sheer size justifies its $13 million annual operating budget, Beach said.

The facility has a full fireground with airplane, vehicle and buildings props, and a new Class A-fire burn building is nearly complete. In addition, a functioning fire station responds to campus fires and mutual-aid requests, while an onsite prison's inmates provide labor for ground maintenance and other tasks, he said.

Firefighters can be certified for basic firefighter, hazmat, all-level hazmat and airport fire, or can become state public-safety educators, state fire inspectors or instructors. The GPSTC also welcomes police and other public-safety personnel, he said. The result is interagency training and a networking environment. Competition still exists between fire and police, but they don't work as silos anymore, Beach said. Interagency training helps bridge the gap between them.

"I'd say that the competition still exists but it is less in that atmosphere," he said.

Having such a large campus with heavy use from all of the state's public-safety agencies means there is a larger emphasis on operational safety. Beach said he completes multiple inspections of equipment and structures annually to ensure NFPA compliance. Equipment is inspected before each training evolution.

Up to Par

Chiefs who oversee firefighting training centers must adhere to NFPA 1403, which mandates that regular, annual inspections by licensed engineers be done on live-fire training props to reduce any exposure to health-and-safety hazards, said Randy Frame, a professional engineer (PE) with Fire Safety and Inspection Services. In fact, NFPA guidelines state training facilities that conduct 30 live-fire evolutions a year must be inspected every three years; for 30 to 60 evolutions, it's every two years; and more than 60 evolutions requires annual inspections.

Chapters 5 and 6 of the standard discuss Class A and propane fires, and both chapters state that live-fire training structures must be inspected visually prior to each evolution. In addition, the integrity of the structure must be inspected and documented by a licensed engineer with live-training expertise. Such engineers must know the nature of fire and where to look for damage, Frame said. Their services run about $5,000.

"Fire-experienced PEs identify all problems with fire linings and the rest of the structure, including code violations, OSHA violations, even rappelling rings that may need to be inspected," he said.

Chapter 9 requires record-keeping procedures for each revolution. Without record-keeping, departments that share a facility may not be completely aware of the wear-and-tear or damage done from previous training sessions. In addition, a lack of records and communication can lead to firefighter injury — or worse, death.

"Few centers keep records on the use of a building," Frame said. "The standard says records should be maintained on all live-fire evolutions and that you must list an accounting of activities conducted, instructors and participants present, unusual conditions encountered, as well any injuries incurred and treatment rendered. Also, they have to list any deterioration or damage to the structure."

Frame said the requirements in NFPA 1403 are not recommendations to be arbitrarily accepted or ignored. He said chiefs who ignore then may open themselves up to liability and lawsuits.

"If someone gets hurt or killed, everybody is going to be looking at what you've been doing with your building, why you didn't use due diligence and take care of these students," he said. "They are going to say you didn't keep records or do inspections."

5 Live-Fire Training Center Inspections Tips

• If there is damage done, it must be inspected immediately per NFPA 1403.
• Training structures must be compliant with OSHA; even rappelling rings must be inspected.
• Visible rust means the structure may no longer be safe. Structural integrity must be investigated.
• Inspect the concrete floor where fires are started. Cracked floors create a trip hazard.
• Safety chains around roof guard rails must be 42 inches high.

Source: Fire Safety and Inspection Services

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