MCCTC breaks ground on $1.1M fire training facility

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a $1.1 million fire tower and training facility at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.

Community members, area firefighters, school leaders and state officials were among those in attendance.

The center will feature classrooms, a three-story fire tower and a station/garage building for storage of the school’s fire engines and student gear. The addition will allow firefighters to simulate search and rescue operations, rappelling, ladder operations and other scenarios firefighters encounter on the job with live burn training.

The facility is expected to be completed in January.

MCCTC “is a world-class facility, and this will be a world-class addition to the facility,” said MCCTC board president Michael Stanko.

The facility will benefit not just high school and adult student firefighters, but also firefighters from local departments.

Officials have been pushing to bring this type of facility to the Valley for more than five years.

Usually, firefighters have to travel to Canton or Reynoldsburg to train.

“We need this for training,” said Andrew Frost II, Austintown fire chief and MCCTC public safety coordinator. “We don’t want the first time they see a real bad situation to be an actual fire; we want it to be in a simulated environment.”

MCCTC Superintendent John Zehentbauer said the old fire training equipment was outdated. The facility and upgraded equipment will provide a better learning experience.

MCCTC is providing $400,000 for the project. The remainder of the cost is provided by state funding and grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The addition comes at no cost to students.

The school provides two firefighter courses: The Firefighter Level 1 course requires 180 credit hours and costs $1,400. The courses provide basic knowledge and skills. The Firefighter Level 2 course requires 84 credit hours and costs $850 and teaches advanced rescue, prevention concepts and live fire training.