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The Bladen County Training Center at White Lake is beginning to take shape as volunteers turned out on Tuesday for a work day. Following the work day on Tuesday, the training tower was beginning to take shape as was the burning center, but there is still plenty of work left to be done.
The training center formerly housed the White Lake Prison Camp until it closed. When the prison was closed, the state gutted the buildings removing such items as plumbing and fixtures such as sinks.
On Wednesday, Bladen County Firefighter Association’s Jim Crayton was back at the site and joined by members of Southeastern Carolina Crossroads. The members of Southeastern Carolina Crossroads are busy helping to install new plumping and setting new sinks in place, said Crayton.
Work is also being done to upgrade the former dormitories into classroom space and to put the former kitchen back into service.
He said that the training tower and burn center also have work remaining to be done. Crayton said doors still need to be installed in the both the tower and burn center.
He said the burn center will allow for fires to be set inside of it and the fire fighters will have to enter it and determine how to extinguish the blaze. Crayton said the exercises depict everything from assessing the fire to how to make entry into the building to what equipment to take inside.
The training tower is four stories tall, said Crayton. He said it can be used by ladder trucks to practice high angle rescues. He said the training tower will also have doors and some windows installed along with interior and exterior ladders and stairways.
He said the idea is to teach fire fighters and law enforcement officers how to search and clear buildings and how to evacuate a building.
“Our intention is to build moveable walls so it is never the same configuration,” said Crayton.
He also said the tower can be configured in such a way as to where it can be used for confined space training. Crayton said the purpose of this is to build confidence and to assist them to learn how to navigated tight spaces in full gear.
Crayton said the training facility has also received a generous donation of items to get started on the kitchen.
Crayton said once completed, the training facility will help Bladen County’s fire departments with future ISO inspections. He said access to a training facility like the one being built in Bladen County, can mean as much as 2 to 3 points on an ISO inspection.
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