Fire, public safety training center proposed for Sidney

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SIDNEY — The Sidney Fire Department (SFD) hopes to create a tactical village and public safety training center in the near future on property currently optioned to the city along Wapakoneta Avenue near Interstate 75.

Discussions of a potential partnership between Edison State Community College and the fire department could create a third campus location for Edison, which would train firefighters and paramedics in Sidney. The proposed training facility would be located adjacent to the property previously purchased as the proposed location of a third fire station.

Currently, Edison has campuses in Miami County, in Piqua, and Darke County, in Greenville, and offers classes online.

Sidney Fire Chief Brad Jones said that in 2014, he was tasked with updating the 2008 Community Risk Assessment by Sidney City Council. During that process, current agency performance was evaluated against national standards and criteria. An analysis of the 2014 data indicated, just as the 2008 CRA had indicated, a third station was necessary.

In 2015, Dick Adams provided a memorial gift to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services through the Community Foundation in the amount of $100,000. The gift, in memory of Nancy Adams, was used to establish the Nancy Adams Training Center, updating the department’s training room within Station 1.

Jones said that during meetings which took place prior to receiving the memorial gift, Dick’s son, Dr. Richard Adams, who previously served as a trustee of the college, asked whether Edison State was involved in the department’s training. He encouraged Jones to reach out to Edison for its involvement.

“The partnership is ideal. Edison is the region’s premier resource for higher education. They are committed to strategic initiatives and community collaboration. They are working hard to try to fill the gap in educational services to educate and train the workforce of the future,” Jones said. “And, it comes down to location, location, location.”

Jones said he had been considering the possibility of a training center in Sidney, and when he contacted then State Fire Marshal Larry Flowers, Flowers told Jones he was in the process of emailing Jones about creating one in Sidney, as well. Flowers then spoke to the mayor, Edison officials and department officials, indicating there was “a training black hole in west central Ohio and Sidney was in the center of it.”

“There are 1,623 firefighters and 384 EMS first responders in the area, requiring 35,867 continuing education hours each year,” Jones said. “That is just one indication that the facility would be financially viable — and that’s without a law enforcement component.”

Over a nine-month period, Jones said he conducted four site visits of campuses in Pennsylvania, Toledo, Cleveland and Texas for examples of a training center in Sidney. He said the outside face of the center would be modeled after buildings in the local Sidney area. The center is expected to include a commercial burn building, a training/drill tower, pumper test/drafting pits and exterior training areas for vehicle extraction and burn props.

In June, Jones gave a presentation to Edison’s board of trustees on the possibility of a partnership with the fire department. Bruce McKenzie, director of marketing and communications at Edison, said in an email to the Sidney Daily News in response to questions about Edison’s involvement that its initial discussions were focused on a couple of classrooms in Sidney’s future third fire station.

“Brad Jones has done excellent work in finding examples of community college partnerships for tactical centers, but we need to determine if this is a good fit for Edison State,” McKenzie said in his email.

McKenzie said if a partnership were to form on this project, Edison’s involvement would “range from renting space in the new fire station, to co-construction of some classrooms, to helping provide first responder and tactical training.” He said, currently, they are still in the “exploratory phase” of such a large project.

“Many factors need to be solidified before we can determine that commitment from Edison State,” said McKenzie in the email.

Edison is involved in several other “innovative partnerships” at this time, McKenzie said, but not with other fire stations or municipal buildings.

Jones said he sees the facility as having many possibilities in the future. He said it could begin with fire science and within 10 years could grow to include other types of training, such as police and nursing programs, for example.

The prospective timeline for the training center, Jones said, will begin with the layout development phase in 2018. The specific design work of building details will take place in 2019. The construction phase is aimed for 2020, and the grand opening will be, he hopes, in 2021.

Pictured is the Public Safety Training Campus in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where training and education of area fire, EMS and police professionals and organizations takes place. It is an example of the Tactical Village and Public Safety Training Center which Sidney Fire Chief Brad Jones hopes to construct in Sidney.
http://www.sidneydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2017/08/web1_training-center.jpgPictured is the Public Safety Training Campus in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where training and education of area fire, EMS and police professionals and organizations takes place. It is an example of the Tactical Village and Public Safety Training Center which Sidney Fire Chief Brad Jones hopes to construct in Sidney. Photo courtesy of Chester County, Pennsylvania

By Sheryl Roadcap

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4823.

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