FTCC held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the final phase of the Dr. J. Larry Keen Regional Fire & Emergency Training Complex on Oct. 1, 2024. [Photo by Brad Losh]
Fayetteville Technical Community College held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday at the site of new construction at the Dr. J. Larry Keen Regional Fire & Emergency Training Complex.
The site is the final phase of the $45 million complex, located on Tom Starling Road in Fayetteville, and will complete the Burn Village portion of the 30-acre campus.
The complex already features a Technical Rescue Training campus, the only indoor swift water rescue training facility on the East Coast, and a 4-story live-burn training tower.
This final phase of construction, which is expected to be completed in August 2025, will add:
- A 2-story live-burn apartment-style tower
- A 1-story residential live-burn building
- An aircraft live burn simulator
- A 1,500-square-foot burn pit
- A concrete pad for staging various training scenarios
- A fire flashover training area
- An urban search-and-rescue training area
Barnhill Contracting Co. is the project construction manager. HH Architecture is the architect.
The complex is the largest training facility of its kind in the region, providing a wide variety of specialized training experiences, and is a local and regional hub for fire and rescue personnel.
FTCC President Dr. Mark Sorrells speaks at the groundbreaking. [Photo by Brad Losh]
FTCC President Dr. Mark Sorrells pointed out the apt timing of the groundbreaking as it comes on the heels of devastation in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene.
“What a timely investment that our community has made to enhance our public safety and to enhance our ability for emergency responders to be extremely prepared for whatever scenario they face,” Sorrells said.
The complex is the result of a collaborative vision of local leaders and bipartisan support from local and state legislators dating back to the tenure of former FTCC President Dr. J. Larry Keen.
In 2021, Cumberland County donated the 30-acre site and an initial $10 million in funding to kickstart the effort. The project has found additional funding from state and county sources.
County Commissioner Chairman Glenn Adams and fellow Commissioner Jimmy Keefe both spoke before the groundbreaking.
“It’s just amazing what you can do when you bring people together and you collaborate without anybody worrying about who gets the credit,” Adams said.
Keen, FTCC Board of Trustee member Charles Koonce, former N.C. Sen. Kirk deViere, and Cumberland County Fire Chiefs Association President Freddy Johnson also offered remarks at the ceremony.
Keen called the complex “the premier site in the Eastern United States” for fire and rescue training.
The Technical Rescue Training campus, which opened in September 2022, includes a 26,000-square-foot building with classrooms, offices, meeting space, training simulators and an apparatus bay for three vehicles. The campus also includes a 4-story “cold” training tower, an area for confined space and trench rescue training, a grain bin/farm rescue training area, and a simulated communications tower.
The Swift Water Rescue Training Facility, opened in October 2023, contains a 140,000-gallon indoor tank equipped with 10 pumps that can create a flow of up to 7 knots. The facility allows first responders and others to train year-round in a variety of simulated conditions for rescues in floods, swift-water situations, and other water-rescue situations.
