Pike plans to train firefighters

MILFORD — A $1.5 million emergency training center, to be located off state Route 739 near the county jail in Blooming Grove Township, is being planned for Pike County. Engineering for the site has been completed and an ad hoc committee of emergency, fire and police personnel met Wednesday to review the plans. The idea for a training facility was conceived by the late Jim May, a long time Pike County firefighter, who presented the concept to Pike County Commissioners eight years ago, Commissioner Harry Forbes recalled. Site plans include a so-called “smoke building” which is used to train fire fighters for an original attack. The building would contain cutaway roof for entry and removable walls as well as elaborate smoke, heat detection equipment and computer systems. There will also be ponds for water used to fight the blazes set in the building. The commissioners are seeking “any help and ideas we can get from our representatives,” Forbes said. Building the smoke building, and preparing the site will be phase one. The next phase will contain a building for classrooms and storage, according to Roger Maltby, Pike’s Emergency Management Coordinator. Commissioners Richard A. Caridi and Harry Forbes have toured several facilities in other counties, and Forbes said they were most impressed by the Sullivan County smoke house in White Lake, N.Y. He said many of the specifications and ideas used there have been incorporated into the Pike plans. A smoke house or burn building enables instructors and students to develop realistic emergency situations with live fires. The buildings can simulate fires by using of smoke generators. Special burning materials are used to imitate real fires. Smoke or “burn buildings” include props which help create life-like fire training. Eight acres of county land was set aside, but the idea lay fallow until last year when Commissioners revived it. Forbes said that initial letters seeking funding help have been sent to all of Pike County’s U.S. and state representatives, asking for ideas about where grant money can be found. “There is all sorts of money for equipment and training,” Forbes said, “But we need to find money for building the facility.” The county has already received a FEMA performance grant of $34,590 to help pay for salaries from October 2007 to September of 2008. County officials expect a separate hazardous materials training grant grant request to yield about $6,500.