 | Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Training Facility |  |
The Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Administration and Training complex has been
designed to provide safe, controlled, and realistic training simulations
designed to meet the challenging and complex needs of the fire service in a
comprehensive environment. The Florida Bureau of Fire Standards has approved
Fire Rescue's design and we can anticipate certification as a State of Florida
Fire Training Center once construction is complete.
The 40-acre complex is located on Pike Road, near the entrance the Florida
Turnpike, which provides a central Palm Beach County location to allow access
to all of Palm Beach County's fire departments. The complex houses
Fire-Rescue's Administrative offices, Training classrooms, practical training
areas and an Apparatus and support building.
The training component of the complex is home to five classrooms, capable of
housing forty (40) students each, with full technology support. It also
includes computerized driving simulators, and emergency incident command
simulation labs. The Apparatus Support Facility will house fully stocked
Rescues, Engines, and aerial fire apparatus assigned to the training division
as well as provide ample equipment storage and maintenance areas. The practical
training grounds will include a 6 story training tower, a 2 1/2 story Class A
burn building, emergency vehicle driving course, extrication training area, and
a variety of full-scale liquefied petroleum (LP) gas props.
Burn Building
The concrete building is designed to simulate a two-story 4,200 square foot
residential structure complete with garage. High temperature linings provide
additional structural protection for repeated Class A fires to allow students
to develop the confidence and proficiency in structural firefighting.
Additional mobile props such as residential LP gas cylinders, electrical
service entrance, vehicle, and noncombustible furniture add to the realism of
the practical scenarios. The burn building also has a separate section
specifically designed for firefighters and fire arson investigators to
investigate fire scenes in order to determine cause and origin of suspicious
and incendiary fires.
Training Tower
The six-story fire tower is designed with multiple facades to accommodate
various scenarios. One-side has a single story residential façade with garage
and operational roof ventilation prop. Another side is designed to resemble a
high-rise apartment complex to simulate window and balcony rescues. One-side is
specifically allocated to elevated victim rescue complete with window washer
prop. The last side is designed as a commercial first story and second floor
garden apartment arrangement. Access to the tower is possible through an
exterior or interior stairwell. The interior stairwell is designed with
manholes to simulate confined space rescues from floors six to one. Each floor
and the roof will have anchor points configured for elevated victim rescue
scenarios. An interior smoke distribution system and sprinkler system add to
the versatility of possible realistic scenarios.
LP Gas Field
The LP gas field will have a variety of Liquified Petroleum gas props to train
Firefighters in flammable liquid fires, car fires, and propane emergencies. To
ensure safe control over each evolution, the props are operated at an
observation platform that provides for an elevated view complete with
additional safety shut-off features. The individual props include a
"Christmas tree", household barbeque grill, gas spill, and vehicle
fire.
Hazardous Materials Field
The hazardous materials field is designed to accommodate life-size train rail
cars and road transportation carriers to allow Firefighters the ability to
recognize hazards, establish perimeters, and complete required emergency
operations on actual devices.
Extrication area
The extrication area allows Firefighters to train on various vehicle, truck and
bus accident scenarios. The field has an area to store surplus vehicles and
mobile props such as telephone and power pole, power transformers, jersey
barriers, and guardrails in order to construct various emergency scenarios.
Driving Track
The driving track provides sufficient area to use a standard Certified
Emergency Vehicle Operator Course or other custom-driving course, in order to
train personnel in the operation of emergency apparatus.
Lake and Drafting Site
The 10-acre lake provides the perfect setting for Firefighters to perfect water
supply operations and flow large amounts of water, while allowing for the
return of the water back to the lake as a method of conserving this vital
resource.
Future Developments
Space is reserved at the practical Training Grounds for confined space rescue
props, disaster city, airplane crash simulation, and urban search and rescue
simulations.
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