Home/Local/New Fire Training Tower Unveiled at SWOCC | Local News

New Fire Training Tower Unveiled at SWOCC | Local News

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

Southwestern Oregon Community College recently celebrated the opening of a four-story, state-of-the-art firefighting laboratory on campus.

Local fire department personnel, along with SWOCC student firefighters, attended an open house on Thursday, May 23. They were joined by SWOCC President Patty Scott, as well as many local officials and community members.

The tower will serve as a fire and rescue operations training center for Southwest students pursuing careers in structural firefighting and emergency response.

“It took us three years of planning with local fire departments to design and build the project. This work has strengthened our relationships and enhanced the College’s fire science program, which helps students be even more successful,” Scott said.

“It also ensures quality training opportunities for rural volunteers so that the College is able to maintain a pipeline of highly trained firefighters who join the services as older professionals retire,” she said. declared.

The 36-foot-tall steel structure meets International Building Code and National Fire Protection Association standards.

It will provide students, volunteers and professionals with a space to practice various skills including indoor search and rescue, fire drills to learn fire behavior and suppression, safe ventilation operations, aerial fire fighting fires, rappelling and ladder training, day and night fire drills, response and rescue, and more.

The College anticipates that this $1 million investment will also support regional safety and enhance annual disaster response training events that can bring together rescuers from local fire departments, the U.S. Coast Guard , medical establishments and ambulance companies.

With this investment, municipal and regional volunteer fire departments in western Douglas, Coos and Curry counties will have the continued opportunity to train at the College close to home without leaving the region. Southwestern's partner school, Columbia Pacific Maritime, will also have the ability to offer maritime firefighting certification courses to professional mariners.

“Thanks to the hard work and determination of College staff and local fire departments, the new fire tower is ready. This will serve as a symbol of pride for years to come and will be an effective way to train not only today’s firefighters, but those of tomorrow,” said Coos Bay Fire Chief Mark Anderson.

Previously, the College used a wood-frame tower built by volunteers using donated materials in 1981 for limited training. The wooden structure did not meet industry standards and could not be used for live fire or rescue exercises. With the new tower, the College has also been able to expand and improve the training area around the tower, allowing better access and allowing more people to train together at the same time.

The project was funded by grants and donations. The organizations that made this project a reality include the SWOCC Foundation, Ford Family Foundation, Bandon Dunes Charitable Foundation, City of Coos Bay, North Bend Volunteer Firefighters Association, Central Coos Fire & Rescue; and the State of Oregon through the work of Senator David Brock Smith, Senator Dick Anderson, and Representative Boomer Wright.