Northeast Wisconsin Technical College has opened a new firefighter training center, called the Burn Tower, just in time for National Fire Prevention Week.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday. The building will offer basic training for new firefighters and continuing education for experienced firefighters, the school said.
The four story, 4,000 square foot building features three burn rooms, two floors of mazes for search and rescue and collapsing floor simulators.
It also has the region's only basement "assault" training facility. which is designed to hold in 800 degree heat and blinding smoke to be as challenging as the real thing.
"Because it's four stories, they can use their ladder trucks, they can do some repelling, they can do some climbing, they can rescue people off balconies," said Jeff Rafn, NWTC's President. "You just never know what you're going to run into with a fire, and so we really try to simulate as many different situations as we can."
Some of those simulations include hotel and apartment access situations and a gas-burning car simulator that can start a garage fire.
For more information on the Burn Tower, visit NWTC's website here.
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