Training center gives firefighters real-life experience

By Connie Cousins

I contacted Robert Balsamo, coordinator of the Centre County Public Safety Training Center, to arrange to speak with him regarding the center.

He did much better than that. He met me on a recent Sunday afternoon and

showed me around the grounds and the buildings. I even climbed to the observation deck where the instructors can watch the students practice their skills.

The training facility in Pleasant Gap, which opened in March 2008, covers 18 acres and consists of three structures thus far. There is the burn building that can be set on fire for practice, the four-tower high-rise where rope and confined space rescues can be simulated and a roof simulator for ventilation practice.

I was interested in the mazes where trainees get a hint of what searching for someone in a smoke–filled structure would be like.

The facility is about half completed. About $8 million has been spent so far from grants, tax money and other sources. Balsamo estimated it will take another $15 million to complete the facility.

Any Centre County fire company, EMS or police agency can use the facility for free.

The day I visited, several people were working on the Essentials Program (consisting of four classes and 166 hours), practicing foam procedures and hose line management in the morning and doing roof-cuts for ventilation in the afternoon. Firefighters from Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Bald Eagle were all represented.

Although the majority of firefighters are men, more women are entering the field. I met one of the two women there that day. Rachel Burris, instructor Todd Homan said, is a junior firefighter because she is still in school at the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology. Homan is the lead instructor at the local level and, along with Balsamo, is one of 80 adjunct instructors who teach suppression level classes at the State Fire Academy at Lewistown.

CPI has classes in heavy equipment, horticulture and metal fabrication, among other topics, and has a mutually beneficial relationship with the training center. CPI receives money to manage the training facility and some projects there have been done by CPI students.

Emergency groups from Blair, Lycoming and Clinton counties have all used the center and it is hoped that it will become a regional facility. Also held on site are commercial driver license and hazmat classes.

The next step is to raise money, ideally grants, to fund a building for administration and classes and for more training props.

Where will I travel next? Call 308-8390 or e-mail connie. cousins@yahoo.com if you have news or things I should see in Bellefonte or Walker, Spring or Marion townships.