Plans are underway to build an addition to the Middle Peninsula Regional Fire Training Center in Harcum to extend its capabilities and provide more opportunities for firefighters to get practical experience in a controlled environment.

Gloucester County public works engineer Lindy Harper is overseeing the logistics of the project. Harper said a burn room on the second floor of the facility will be completed, including an exterior staircase and balcony.

According to Harper, the addition will also include a prop, which will be a bed, to simulate trying to rescue someone asleep on the second level of a burning building. There will also be a sprinkler system installed to help firefighters learn to train to interact in a burning building with a sprinkler system activated.

"This will give us the ability to better mimic actual fire situations, especially with the introduction of the LP gas system on the first and second floors and overall gives us more realistic training opportunities," said J.D. Clements, chief of the Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, Inc.

The additions are made possible through a grant from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, a state agency that provides funding, training, technical and operational assistance, public fire safety education and more. Harper said no local tax dollars are being used to fund the project.

The agreement to accept the grant was made last November. Currently, plans for the addition are being reviewed by Gloucester’s Codes Compliance department for the issuance of a building permit.

Once the permit is issued, Harper said work should begin immediately.

The training center was dedicated in the fall of 2007. The 36.5’x22’ building currently has two parts, a two-story residential section, and a three-story tower section with a flat roof to allow practice rappelling and using aerial ladders.

In 2009, the facility underwent another major addition of a Class-B prop so firefighters could train in fire situations fueled by propane gas. The addition also included a smoke generator to provide more lifelike training inside the facility.

The inside of the facility is set up similar to a regular home. There are narrow stairwells and dark areas. There is even a room set up to simulate a small attic. Other obstacles are present forcing those in training to encounter low ceilings/crawlspaces, strings or rope hanging across wall to wall and from low beams.