Construction of NETC West is underway
DEPARTMENTS
Dispatches
The renovation and remodeling of the former Stewart Indian School, the site of the western campus of the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) is on schedule, and at presstime several buildings were expected to be completed this summer.
Classes at NETC West in Carson City, NV, are tentatively scheduled to start in January 1986, pending final funding from Congress, says a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official. Joseph L. LaFleur, superintendent of the Emergency Management Institute, and Joseph L. Donovan, superintendent of the National Fire Academy, who organize the courses for the NETC in Emmitsburg, MD, are responsible for organizing the courses on the western campus as well. These courses will concentrate heavily on the unique problems, such as earthquakes, that are faced by West Coast and Pacific Northwest fire departments.
According to the FEMA official, the purpose for establishing a NETC on the West Coast is to address these problems without having to bring the west into the east. Also, as of now, the government absorbs travel expenses for attendees, as well as costs for classes and lodging. (The individual fire departments reimburse the students for meal expenses.) A NETC West could save FEMA some $250-$500,000 each year in transportation, the official says.
The official stated that these courses will be conducted by adjunct faculty members of the National Fire Academy.
An exchange of ideas, knowledge, and information is invaluable to the firefighting profession; and the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg is looked on as the wellspring of firefighter interaction. The give and take of thoughts and advice among members from all fire service agencies and from all areas of the United States is one of the greatest opportunities a firefighter can be afforded. And this interaction doesn’t begin and end in the classroom. Sitting around the campus, gathering in the resources center, lining up for meals in the dining hall, invariably turn into long-remembered learning experiences for brother firefighters in the northern, southern, eastern, and western states.
NETC West should be completed over a five-year period.
