Thanks to a donation of construction materials from County Materials, Northcentral Technical College’s Public Safety Center will soon offer search and rescue training in an environment simulating the conditions typical of a collapsed concrete structure.
The Collapsed Building Prop is the latest addition to the state-of-the-art Emergency Village training facility at NTC’s Public Safety Center of Excellence in Merrill, WI. It will be used to train future public safety and law enforcement personnel in fire rescue, canine search and rescue, and emergency response to structural collapse.
NTU’s Dean of Public Safety Bryce Kolpack says the idea for the project came to him during his daily commute past County Materials’ Weston, Wis. facility. “We knew we wanted to do that kind of project. Finding the actual materials was the next step. The materials had to meet our construction needs and be safe,” he explains.
A team of County Materials personnel visited NTC’s facility and came away impressed.
“We are excited to contribute to this project,” comments County Materials’ Rib Falls, Wis. Operation Manager Chad Hoeppner. “It’s an honor to be contributing to this great resource for the public safety of northern Wisconsin.”
Construction on the 8,000 square foot collapsed building project is slated to begin in June 2013. County Materials will deliver approximately two truckloads of reinforced concrete pipe and storm sewer manholes to the site.
“This project will enable us to offer some unique training capabilities,” says Kolpack. “Our use of the County Materials concrete structures will allow us to do a lot of training that has not been available in the past. It is a unique opportunity.”
