Fayetteville Technical Community College held a double celebration for their new Regional Fire & Rescue Training Center on Monday Sept. 19 at 775 Tom Starling Road in Fayetteville.  

Featuring a Groundbreaking and Hose Uncoupling ceremony, the events celebrated the completion of the 24,000-square-foot building that anchors the training complex, and includes classrooms, simulation labs, offices and three apparatus bays. 

A practice that is common for firefighters, a Hose Uncoupling takes the place of a ribbon cutting Leaders and planners involved with the project uncoupled short sections of a fire hose to mark the grand opening of a new building. 

“From the very beginning, we have had the involvement of people from the fire service and rescue areas, that have been in these conversations, and this could not have happened without them…” said FTCC President Dr. J. Larry Keen. “...This is more than  just a building, this is more than just the culmination of some dreams, it is literally the opportunity for us to say not only ‘Thank you’, but to give this state of the art training and educational facility, to those who are going to be responsible for helping us in some of our most difficult times.” 

Following the Hose Uncoupling ceremony, the Groundbreaking took place for a Swift Water Rescue Training Center, a project that will be part of the training complex. 

The facility will house an 88,000-gallon tank with pumps that can blast water at a flow of up to seven knots, or approximately 8.06 mph, allowing first responders and others to train year-round for water rescues in floods, swift-water situations and other water situations. The facility, expected to be completed by Spring 2023,  and will be the only indoor facility of its kind on the East Coast of the United States. The facility’s tank is being created by Fathom Tanks of Georgetown, Texas. 

These facilities are part of a 30-acre complex that will provide state-of-the-art fire and rescue training programs for fire and emergency personnel from Cumberland County and beyond. Forthcoming additions to the complex include:

• A technical rescue facility with a 4-story training tower 
• A 3-story “burn building” where live burning exercises can be conducted 
• Two additional burn buildings 
• An aircraft burn simulator 
• A rappelling tower with high zip line capability 
• An area for trench collapse training and other confined space training 
• A memorial plaza commemorating fallen firefighters and emergency personnel