Governor Eric Holcomb was in Plymouth Friday afternoon to introduce the first four statewide fire training sites as a part of an expansion of funding for fire training and volunteer personal protective equipment (PPE) in his NextLevel Agenda.
The first phase of this Hub-and-Spoke training model will include four new physical training locations to be built in Corydon, Linton, Rensselaer and Wabash. These new sites are expected to be completed and ready for use in the first quarter of 2024. In total, the state will be investing $7.7 million. The goal with these funds is to provide high-quality, physical training structures within 30 miles or 45 minutes of all career and volunteer departments. The new sites will join more than a dozen sites already utilized for state firefighter training.
Indiana Department of Homeland Security Director of Public Affairs David Hosick told MAX News what the facilities will look like, which will be close to what the Plymouth Fire Department training facility features.
“They’re Conex trailers that essentially simulate live burn situations,” stated Hosick. “There will be a tower and they have to have live burn capabilities on all of the sites. A lot of the volunteer departments don’t have access to that right now. To be able to customize something where they can get all of the physical training skills that they would have on a normal fire scene, all of those things are going to be available in these type of facilities.”
An additional $10 million will provide new PPE for volunteer firefighters across the state. Of the nearly 870 fire departments across the state, over 600 of these are volunteer fire departments. The goal with these funds is to fully outfit close to 900 volunteer firefighters with essential sets of PPE. Volunteer departments often operate with outdated equipment and little funding to replace it as needed.
Plymouth Fire Chief Steve Holm said his department will be receiving some funding for a project at the existing training site.
“We’re going to be fortunate enough that we are going to get some funding with our current facility to add a fire hydrant to help our guys with training – pulling up to a scene, hitting the hydrant, hooking up to the sprinkler system, and hooking up to the trucks for that water. It’ll also help us just simply keeping our equipment in service when we’re doing training. As of right now, we have to use the water from our trucks whenever we’re fire training out here which limits what apparatus has to stay here and which ones can respond to calls. If we have a fire hydrant and can use that water, all of our equipment can stay in service.”
Governor Holcomb also gave praise to the fire and rescue students participating in the North Central Career and Technical Education (CTE) Fire and Rescue Program and recognized them during his press conference Friday afternoon. Students have classes that take place at the Plymouth Fire Station. Students will graduate from the program with their certifications, and also 15 college credits.
