It would be a mistake to think of Madison County, in central New York state, as a quiet, laid-back fire community. Just the opposite is true. In 2022 alone, 991 people from 328 different agencies trained in Madison County for a total of 1,756 hours.
Much of that training was held for fire, EMS, law enforcement and SWAT personnel on The Battalion Chief structure. Created to resemble a residence, the two-and-a-half story all-steel building has four working deck levels. There are burn rooms on both the first and second floors.
“This training facility is in use an average of five days/nights a week,” according to Douglas F. Shattuck, fire coordinator at Madison County Emergency Management in Wampsville, N.Y. “The burn building is used for courses, and the battalion level is used for best practice scenarios approximately 40 times each year.
“The Battalion Chief has been operational here for three years. We’ve had the highest live fire usage of any of our neighboring counties each year. Because of the increased usage we’re considering maintenance earlier than planned. The structure is holding up very well and we’re really using it to a high degree.”
Flexible Floorplan
Selected specifically because of its large family single dwelling design, The Battalion Chief fits the needs of Madison County firefighters for their training needs. Unique scenarios are set up that also replicate multi-occupancy apartment buildings and college dormitories using the structure.
The Class A burn rooms on the first and second floors allow for training in realistic smoke and heat conditions. Instructors have indicated that the burn rooms allow for both effective fire attack along with search and rescue tactics practice.
“We decided on The Battalion Chief because it allowed for a custom floor plan and accommodates the scenarios we intended to create,” says Shattuck, a New York state fire instructor with 25 years experience. “After evaluating other manufacturers in our area and getting feedback from other fire training structure users, we determined that Fire Facilities had the product that we could depend on to best meet our needs.
“The support we received from Fire Facilities during our purchase and construction of the training tower was excellent. After three years of solid usage of The Battalion Chief, we’re impressed with its durability. We made a smart investment.”
