The Berkeley County Emergency Services Training Center has received more than $1.5 million in state funding for expansion and facility upgrades at its site in Moncks Corner.
The training center has served the tri-county area since 1996 as a location for local fire, police, EMS, 911 and emergency management agencies in the area to train in various emergency scenarios.
The 18.45-acre site, which Berkeley County leases from Santee Cooper, is where South Carolina Fire Academy, state emergency management, FEMA, state utility companies, and third-party vendors conduct training for local industrial partners, according to a news release. It’s also where local fire responder agencies hold classroom instruction and hands-on training sessions.
“Training is key in the fire services industry and all emergency service careers,” Pine Ridge Fire Chief Ben Waring, a member of the Berkeley County Fire Chiefs Association Board, said in the release. “We are grateful to our state delegation members and Berkeley County for working together to support us and provide us the best possible site and resources for quality training to better serve our communities and assist our counterparts in the field. We look forward to utilizing this training center site to grow the knowledge and experience of our county fire departments and several other agencies around the county, state and region.”
The $1,616,398 state funding supports a project that includes a new four-story training tower for the fire industry, as well as renovations to the current building and classrooms, bathroom remodeling, replacement of flooring and tiling, new furniture, new IT infrastructure and AV equipment and upgrades to the site’s grounds.
“On behalf of county council, I’d like to thank the members of our Berkeley County delegation in Columbia who supported this request,” Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb said in the release. “Bringing county taxpayer dollars back to help us better meet our training needs for our public safety departments is vitally important in our mission of protecting life and property.”
With a more state-of-the art, high-level training center, the county will be able to better serve its emergency service agencies and offer other agencies around the Tri-County and state unique opportunities for training.
“The facility upgrades made possible by this statefunding gives us the opportunity to better train our EMS personnel and partners, improving our readiness to respond to emergencies in our communities,” Chief Michael Shirey, Berkeley County Emergency Medical Services, said in the release. “Thanks to the partnership between county leadership and the state delegation, we will have a great, modern and consolidated training center to accomplish that goal.”
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