ANNAPOLIS, MD — Frederick County’s public safety training facility could be getting some much-needed extra space.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) introduced his operating and capital budgets last week, and in the latter, included $1.5 million for expansions and renovations at the center off Reichs Ford Road near the county landfill.
County Executive Jan Gardner (D) said it’s good news for the county. She met with the Frederick County delegation recently and requested $1.73 million for those improvements.
Added space and improvements would allow more firefighters and emergency personnel to train at the same time, she said.
“The renovation for the public training center to train firefighters is needed because we’re trying to overlap those recruit classes,” Gardner said.
Tom Coe, acting fire chief with the county’s Division of Fire and Rescue Services, said he is expecting 90 firefighters in a recruiting class in March, so the extra space and improvements are needed.
The $1.5 million would be used to add storage space and expand the indoor training center, along with expanding locker room space, Coe said.
Training props, tools, apparatus and other equipment would be kept in that storage space. And expanding the indoor training center allows more people to train in inclement weather, Coe said.
“Our public safety training facility is really bursting at the seams,” Coe said.
The money would also help him and the county stay consistent with the public safety training center’s master plan, he added.
“Today, we don’t even have enough current space for the recruits we expect to have in March,” Coe said. “This will allow us to appropriately house those on both the fire and rescue side.
“With the volume of folks we put through here, there’s absolutely things we need to improve so we have the capacity we need.”
Hogan introduced his operating and general budgets Jan. 15. The General Assembly needs to approve those by March 30.
———
©2020 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)
Visit The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.) at www.fredericknewspost.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
