By Diana Scheddin
The Province of Ontario is providing close to $3.3 million to help build a new emergency training centre on the existing grounds of the Ontario Fire College in Gravenhurst.
The project is being funded by the province in reaction to the events that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Money has been also provided to fund various other initiatives; Ontario Provincial Police and Emergency Measures Ontario have both received funding.
"In total it was about $30 million that has been committed to increasing the provincial government's ability to deal with terrorist type activities," says Jim Coulson, project manager for the office of the fire marshal.
The centre is being "added on to accommodate inner agency training in relation to chemical, biological nuclear, radiological responses," Coulson says. "The expansion will also allow training between emergency services for hazardous materials type incidents."
The expansion gives the college the opportunity to hold larger seminars, including police, fire and ambulance groups. These groups will then be able to work at simulated incidents together.
The college's current space is limited explains Coulson, and thus the larger auditorium that will be built will be a much-needed asset.
Construction of this project is currently being overseen by the Ontario Reality Corp.
The new centre should be complete by 2005; meanwhile students of the college can look forward to some new courses.
Classes being offered in the future will provide more training in hazardous materials responses.
"Terrorist type activities can be like a hazardous materials incident, so we will be increasing our training in that area as well," says Coulson.
Incident-management courses will also be provided to allow police, fire and ambulance crews to work together for greater co-ordination and co-operation.
