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Improvements Scheduled For Ocean County Training Center
OCEAN COUNTY - Since it first opened its doors in 1998, thousands of volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians have received their certification and updated training at the Ocean County Training Center, Waretown.
"We are now getting ready to make substantial improvements to the facility," said Freeholder John P. Kelly, who serves as director of Law and Public Safety.
"These upgrades will provide those men and women who volunteer their time to protecting our homes, property and our lives with an even better training center."
The county is planning a 21,100 square foot addition to the training center located off Route 9 in Waretown.
The addition includes a pool designed specifically for training exercises including underwater rescue and recovery, 3,600 square feet of new classroom space, a 4,600 square foot auditorium and about 6,000 square feet for support services.
"This facility has become a centerpiece for training in Ocean County," Kelly said. "These enhancements will pro- vide our volunteers with an ever more advanced facility."
In addition to training our volunteers, the center has also been home to a very successful vocational technical school program - Law and Public Safety.
Kelly said that in its first year in 2001, 26 students went through the program.
"Now we have had to cap the number attending at 80 because we have run out of classroom space for the program," Kelly said.
Upon completing the program, students who graduate can go on to become Special Class I officers, who are often called upon to help in shore communities with traffic control and working at events to keep the public safe.
The program also allows students to determine whether
they want to pursue a career in criminal justice.
"The success of our current program at the training center ,coupled with the continuing growth at our Police Academy
in Lakewood has now resulted in the need to expand the training center in Waretown," Kelly said.
Because of new requirements by the Police Training Commission, more classroom space is needed to train the county's police recruits.
In addition, the new training pool will provide a much needed training facility, since the county currently has to call upon other agencies or area colleges to use their pools, making scheduling difficult.
"With this addition, we will be able to accomplish many things including providing additional space for police training and the training of our volunteers, a needed training pool to allow for better scheduling and upgrades to a facility that has been embraced by the community and many outside agencies," Kelly said.
The training center currently includes six individual buildings housed on 18 acres of property located at 200 Volunteer Way. Each building has individual and unique features that aid in the enhancement of the training of Ocean County's volunteers.
Included at the training center site is an administration building, five classrooms, a break room and kitchen, an indoor dual overhead door training area, smoke house, burn building, natural gas fire simulator, extrication pad staging area, drill tower and control tower.
"The goal of the Ocean County Training Center has always been to offer exceptional training to volunteers," Kelly said. "Courses are run here throughout the year to train new volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Veteran volunteer firefighters and EMT's can also take advantage of courses that will teach them the latest advances and techniques in these areas."
"Those who walk through the doors of the Ocean County Training Center are more than just volunteers; they are people who make a difference everyday," Kelly said.
Kelly noted the training center also is used by a number of county departments for training sessions and by state agencies. In addition, students from Ocean County Vocational-Technical Schools attend the training center for courses in law and public safety.
"This center serves all of our communities and we want to make certain it's the best it can be," Kelly said.
Since opening, 502 new volunteer firefighters have completed their initial training at the center while an additional 6,705 have attended classes there for additional education and training.
The center also graduated a total of 629 new volunteer emergency medical technicians and provided additional training to 1,785 EMT's.
The preceding story was a press release provided by the Ocean County Department of Public Affairs.
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