![]() ![]() Industrial, Business & Private Fire Brigades.SARA Title III - Hazardous Material handling. ![]() Such organizations include, but not limited to: Objectives of the Board were to plan, develop and fund current activities, while instituting new projects, courses and related training programs associated with the needs of public and private organizations involved with providing emergency services. In 1987 the County of Delaware created a twenty member Board of Fire and Life Safety with the goal to establish a dedicated, specialized facility and curriculum designed to train emergency services providers. The Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center is certainly evidence of what can be accomplished when a community pulls together to achieve a common goal. This project would have never gotten off the ground to become such a success with out the support and cooperation from the county government under the leadership of Mary Ann Arty, Zeke Forlini, owner of Action Concrete, became a major source of guidance to this project and coordinated local businesses, trade unions, and private citizens. All of the accolades and commendations by the training center can be directly attributed to the community spirit of Delaware County. Executive Director of the ESTC was presented with the National Association of Counties Model Project Award for the training center. In 1990, John Garland, Chairman of the National Commission of Employment Policy, called the training center one of the most "successful community programs" he had ever seen. The amazing progress and success of the project has not gone unnoticed. With 1996 being no exception, the total hours of police, fire and emergency medical training reached over 80,000 hours. In 1995 new projects, including construction of the burn building and practical skills classrooms, helped to increase hours to over 45,000. By the end of the training, hours soar to over 34,000. During the first week in August of the year, the first management training seminars for county department heads were held. In March 1993, the first evening fire school was held. By October 1992, the center was ready to hold its first official emergency course for medical technician training. Over the next five years, countless community volunteers donated their time, labor, money, equipment and supplies to make this effort a success. In 1989 the conversion from incinerator to training center began in earnest when the Youth Service Corps started work on the grounds of the complex. Further hampering the resurrection of the facility were the deteriorating remains of the large furnaces and support equipment, including a 165-foot tall smokestack. By the time the county began its quest for a site adequate for training emergency personnel, the elements had left the incinerator facility in a dilapidated state. ![]() The facility sat idle for 10 years following the fire. At that time the complex was approximately 17,800 square feet in size and 70 feet in height. The incinerator was constructed around 1960 and closed in 1978 due to fire. The training center, formally known as the Folcroft Incinerator Facility, is located on Calcon Hook Road in Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It was the service of these unrelenting volunteers, which eventually culminated in the opening of the Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center. The vision was not to be realized until the late 1980's when a vacant incinerator located on the border of Darby Township and Folcroft Borough became the focal point of the efforts of countless county volunteers. The pressing need for a training center became more apparent during the mid 1980's as laws were passed requiring a basic level of training for all volunteers participating in the fire and emergency services, as well as the mandatory training standards for police and other law enforcement officers. Several efforts were made during this period, all in vain, to provide a specialized facility for emergency response personnel to train and refine their skills. ![]() Lewis, Fire Marshall, who championed the need for the training of the county's fire, police and ambulance personnel. Since the early 1970's there have been people envisioning a need for a training facility including the late John Reilly, Common Pleas Court Judge, as well as the late George T. These dedicated people provide the necessary response to emergencies in a moment’s notice which could not happen without the specialized training that the Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center has offered. In Delaware County there are 78 volunteer fire companies, 33 ambulance services and 40 municipal police departments serving the half million plus citizens of the county. ![]()
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