Public Safety Training Center

Monroe Community College
Rochester, New York


PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING FACILITY

Background

The Public Safety Training Facility is a three-phase project to construct a full faceted training facility for public safety providers. The PSTF will be located on Scottsville Road at the current site of the City of Rochester's Fire and Police Academy. Phase 1, which will include training for Air Rescue Fire Fighters and for career and volunteer fire fighters, is currently under construction. Construction of this phase began in June 1998 and is scheduled for completion in Fall of 1999. The total budget for Phase 1 is approximately $13 million.

Currently, the County contracts with Monroe Community College for all public safety training to be conducted at its Public Safety Training Center. A partnership agreement with the County of Monroe and the City of Rochester was executed in March of 1998 to continue operation of this training. Under the partnership agreement, the County will lease the property from the City of Rochester for a period of 99 years with an option to purchase the property. The Training Center will move to the new facility where the college will continue to provide public safety training and manage the facility upon construction completion.

Phase 2 will consist of building a new 49,000 gross square foot addition to the existing on-site training building and Phase 3 will include the renovation of the existing Fire and Police Academy Building. The entire budget for Phases 1, 2, & 3 is approximately $26 million.

Phase 1 Fire Training Props and Building

Fire Props

Multipurpose Building - This 12,000 square foot building which will house the control tower (to control the computer props and oversee the training activities), two vehicle bays, two training classrooms, breakroom, men's and women's locker room, and three small offices.

Three-Story Burn Building - This is a concrete prop building consisting of six fireplaces which will be fueled by propane to simulate a bedroom fire, living room, kitchen, storage area fire, laboratory fire, ceiling plenum, flashovers, and allow for cold smoke generation to simulate real fire conditions.

Industrial Fire Training Props - Several propane operated props will be located on the site. These props will consist of a 500 gallon fuel tank fire simulator, transformer fire simulator, electrical fire simulator, pipe flange simulator, and a vehicle simulator which will have three separate fire units to simulate an engine fire, interior fire, and a brake fire.

High Angle Rescue Tower - Renovation of the existing prop building will allow fire fighters the ability to once again use this prop for ladder training and rescue.

Air Rescue Fire Fighting Training Props

Fuel Spill Fire Trainer - This is a mockup of a Boeing 737 to meet FAA training design standards. The mock aircraft will be surrounded with propane fuel valves to simulate an actual aircraft fire. The structure will be placed upon a 125 foot diameter working surface with a fuel spill burn area surrounding the entire prop. The valves can be fully ignited to surround the entire prop or divided to allow for a partial grid area burn.

Specialized Aircraft Fire Trainer - This is a partial aircraft mockup to allow for training for a cabin fire, galley fire, cockpit fire, wheel/brake fire, and underwing fire.

Two Training Vehicles - These vehicles will be on site to be used for air rescue fire fighting training purposes.

PROJECT UPDATE

Construction on Phase 1 began on June 22, 1998, with facility completion scheduled for Fall 1999. To date, eleven prime contractors, under the direction of Construction Manager David Rocco of DiMarco Construction, are clearing the site, laying pipes, pouring concrete and placing asphalt. As of the end of September 1998, approximately 33% of the site development is complete, 14% of the Multipurpose Building is complete, 18% of the Burn Building is complete, and renovation on the High Angle Rescue Building is well underway. The main props contractor, Symtron, will be on site in December 1998 to begin assembly of the propane props. Thus by the Summer of 1999, testing and debugging of the systems should begin. The air rescue fire fighting training vehicles have been ordered and are scheduled for delivery in the Summer of 1999.

Currently, the County is preparing to move ahead on Phases 2 and 3. The County's technical design consultant, Clough Harbour & Associates, has begun preparing its engineering, architectural, and construction management proposal. This proposal will be reviewed and then submitted to the Monroe County Legislature for approval. It is anticipated that design work should begin in November 1998 with full completion of the project in January 2001.

Phases 2 and 3 will allow for the Office of Emergency Preparedness and its Emergency Operations Center to move from its current cramped quarters in the Social Service Building on Westfall Road into this new facility. This will allow for greater flexibility of space, in that the Center can be used for training during non emergencies and activated when necessary.

Return to PSTC Home Page

URL: http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/pstc/PSTF.htm

Updated: November 11, 1998
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