Photo by Peter Griggs
Shasta College will unveil two newly constructed fire training towers as part of its new Regional Public Safety Training Center at a rescheduled ribbon-cutting ceremony to which the public is invited on Thursday, March 14, at 10:00 AM on the Redding Main Campus. These towers represent Phase I of the overall plan for the new Regional Public Safety Training Center located immediately to the left as you enter the north entrance of the campus. These specialized fire training towers will allow trainees to learn new skills such as how to safely attack a structure fire, perform victim searches, and overhaul a building after a fire. The “fire tower” structure also contains gas fired props that mimic a residential or commercial structure fire, providing a variety of realistic scenarios to prepare students for real-world emergencies.
“This center and the partnerships it represents are just one more way that Shasta College is here to help train and prepare our first responders for the invaluable work they do for us all,” said Dr. Joe Wyse, Superintendent/President of Shasta College. “We’re excited to open this first phase of our new fire training center and are thankful for the trust and belief our community had in us when they passed Measure H.”
These structures will not only allow Fire Academy students to complete their training on campus but will also provide opportunities for ongoing education in rescue and response techniques for professional first responders through SHIELD, the regional public safety training consortia. “It takes all public safety organizations working together to mitigate a large-scale incident like the recent Carr Fire,” states Bret Gouvea, Chief of CAL FIRE Shasta-Trinity Unit and Shasta County Fire Department, as well as Chair of the Board of SHIELD. “The Regional Public Safety Training Center gives us the mechanism to train for these events together.”
The construction is made possible by voters’ approval of Bond Measure H in the 2016 general election, which gave the Shasta-Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District the ability to secure $139 million in general obligation bond funding with the understanding that the funds would in part be focused on community safety. Shasta College is following through on that promise with the development of this project and other future projects designed to improve job training, increase support for veterans, and improve campus infrastructure through upgrades and repairs.
For more information about this event or other bond-related questions, please visit www.shastacollege.edu/bond, or contact the Shasta College Bond Program Office at (530) 242-7747.
