FINDLAY, Ohio — First responders go through hours and hours of training before going out in the field and it is best to get hands-on experience to give trainees a head start.
The Findlay Fire Department used to train in old buildings, but Chief Josh Eberle says a new location that just opened near the station brings trainees closer and gets recruits ready for real-world situations.
"We wanted something local within the city limits so our responders didn't have to leave the city limits," Eberle said. "We could do a lot of training on duty so we can still respond to emergencies if we're out here in a training class."
It's called the STRICT Center, or Simulated Tactical Response and Incident Command Training. It's not just a classroom, but also a burn building to train for live fires and a search house to practice rescues.
"That muscle memory that's in hands-on training is so important for firefighters," Eberle said. "Everybody wants to do a great job, you know, out for the public, but that's not very realistic if you don't ever train in those scenarios."
Rob Martin, the Service-Safety Director with the city of Findlay, said the goal is to get the new recruits ready for real emergencies.
"This gives us the opportunity to fail safely and gives us the ability to, when we do put together a plan for a response, it gives us the ability to train, practice it, find out opportunities to improve that response, and then run the play again and again," Martin said.
Martin said the city paid for half of the center with the other half coming from private donations and fundraising. It's all to get recruits up to speed to help keep people safe.
"It's actually a recruitment tool that we can show off what we do in a controlled environment," Martin said. "And maybe we can actually get some talented young individuals that want to put public safety as their career."
The STRICT Center has offered training since it opened last month. There will be a public open house on Saturday, Oct. 19.